


Point B

by Inadee



Series: Teamwork makes the dream work [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angst, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, No Beta, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sequel, Teamwork makes the dream work, Tom and Sabine are amazing, but not relationship angst, fluffy fluff, post-identity reveal, romantic relationships, we love some good communication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 57,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23838604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inadee/pseuds/Inadee
Summary: “Yeah, that is definitely a concern of mine too,” grumbled Marinette. “Not gonna lie, Alya is VERY invested in our relationship and she’s going to be extremely suspicious of how we went from Point A on Friday afternoon, me jumping into a bush to Point B Monday morning, walking into class holding hands.Adrien smiled, “I’m looking forward to Monday morning already in that case!”It’s happened. All their wishes came true and now they are a couple! But that’s not the end of the story. Really, it’s just the beginning.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Series: Teamwork makes the dream work [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717729
Comments: 165
Kudos: 589





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here we are! The sequel! I am so excited to share this and I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Come visit me on tumblr @therealinadee

Marinette woke up Sunday morning to the distant sound of her Maman’s voice.

“Marinette, are you up? Adrien is here!” she called.

Marinette sat upright so quickly, her head spun, “What, Adrien?”

Sabine opened the door to Marinette’s room. “No rush, we’re feeding him,” she grinned mischievously as Marinette threw back her covers and hastily climbed down the ladder. 

“Tell him I’ll be right down,” she shrieked as she flew into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

****

“She’ll be down in just a moment,” Sabine informed Adrien as she came back down to the bakery and took over the till for her husband. “Can I get you anything else to eat?”

“That’s ok. Tom just had me taste-testing three different batches of pastries. I’m stuffed!” he laughed.

At that moment, Marinette burst into the bakery. “Hey!” she exclaimed, smiling at Adrien. “I wasn’t sure I’d be seeing you since your father is back.”

“Yeah, apparently some catastrophe happened at the studio which is why they came back early. They both left the house first thing so I decided to have Gorilla drop me off here. I hope that’s ok!”

Marinette nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! What did you want to do?”

“Would you like to go for a walk along the river?” he asked hopefully.

“I’d love to. Mama, Papa, is it ok if I go out for awhile?”

“Sure sweetie, text me if you think you’ll be out past lunch!” Sabine replied.

“Ok,” she agreed.

“Thanks Tom, thanks Sabine,” Adrien said, smiling brightly at them. He offered his arm to Marinette and she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow.

The teens slowly made their way to the Seine, talking about the events of the previous day. Adrien was still intrigued by the lucky charm that Ladybug had produced during their battle with Extra-Terrestrial. 

“I wonder how Tikki was able to manifest any part of that movie. It isn’t meant to be out for months!”

“I asked but she wouldn’t tell me. She wouldn’t even confirm if it was authentic content or not!” Marinette replied, shrugging with a baffled look on her face. “I am pretty sure that was the most specific Lucky Charm I’ve ever used.”

Adrien laughed. “It is so awesome to be able to talk about this stuff with you!” he exclaimed, pulling her to a nearby bench. His voice softened, “It’s also awesome to snuggle with you whenever I see you.” He draped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her against him.

Marinette leaned over and kissed his cheek. Adrien sighed with pleasure and closed his eyes. “Part of me feels bad for saying this but I’m kind of happy about whatever went wrong at the studio. I’m really enjoying the lack of focus on my whereabouts.”

“That seems justifiable to me,” Marinette laughed. “Why does he keep you so busy anyway?”

“I’m not entirely sure. He seems to think it is more important that I know how to do lots of different things than it is for me to have friends. I mean, I like to learn new things but I also like to spend time with my friends. I don’t know why he thinks those two desires are incompatible. Sometimes we argue about it but it’s pointless since he won’t even entertain my point of view. I guess he has started occasionally letting Natalie leave a few hours of time unblocked.. Although saying that, I am starting to think those blocks of time aren’t intentional. Something is really distracting him. Maybe it’s the spring line. I don’t know.” he sighed.

“Are there parts of your schedule that you enjoy?” Marinette asked. “Is there anything you would want to do on your own without someone making you do it? Like when you grow up?”

“Honestly, I worry that it will never change, even when I grow up,” Adrien said, absentmindedly playing with Marinette’s ponytail. “Father talks about my role continuing to grow at Gabriel like it’s a foregone conclusion. I wouldn’t mind if my role decreased after I got too old to model. I’m really not interested in taking over.”

Marinette looked at him thoughtfully. “That kind of pressure must be difficult. It’s hard being an only child sometimes. My parents don’t put any pressure on me about the future of the bakery but I do think about it sometimes. I don’t mind helping out but it’s not what I want for my career.

Adrien sighed again. “I wish that was what my role at Gabriel was like. If it was just me modelling for a few years and then having my own career after university, I would be ok with that.”

“Do you like modelling? Marinette asked curiously.

“I don’t particularly like it or hate it. Some shoots go well and that’s always a relief. It feels good when Father likes the pictures. It feels awful when I have to model with Lila. I’ve been working on that for awhile, actually. I’ve been encouraging Father and Natalie to research other models and telling them that Lila’s behaviour makes me uncomfortable and makes it really difficult to do my best.”

“What did they say to that?”

“At first, they were both firm that it was my problem but I guess fortunately for me, she has become more and more difficult for the photoshoot team to work with. The photographer finally had words with Natalie about it two months ago and I haven’t had another shoot with her since.”

“Well, I’m glad you don’t have to work with her anymore. Lila did a lot of damage to my friendships last year. It took forever for Alya to wise up. We’re back to being close again but there was at least four months of school where you were the only one talking to me.”

“I’m so sorry,” Adrien said. “You didn’t deserve to go through all that.”

Marinette took a deep breath and let it out. “I don’t blame you or Alya for that.. Or myself. Lila is a sociopath and she makes her own rules when it comes to how she treats other people. I’ve never known anyone so… malevolent. Now, I just try to keep my distance. I’m glad that all my classmates seem ok with me again. I was surprised when they re-elected me as class rep.”

“You are so amazing,” Adrien said, kissing the side of her head.

“Ah, I’m just a regular girl who makes mistakes like anyone else. Listening to you talk about modelling… I can see it makes you uncomfortable. I feel bad for how much I have liked seeing your pictures and watching your perfume ads,” Marinette blushed self-consciously.

Adrien sat quietly, thinking for a moment. He continued playing with Marinette’s ponytail, ruffling it with his fingers and gently tugging on sections. “Honestly, I don’t mind that you have been looking at those pictures and stuff,” he said thoughtfully.

“I just feel like, even if I didn’t mean to, I was objectifying you,” Marinette said, looking down at her knees.

“Well, let me ask you.. Before you met me, did you look at pictures of me?”

“No, I didn’t even know who you were on the first day of school. When Chloe said your name, I had no idea what the fuss was all about.”

Adrien laughed loudly, “Ha! That’s amazing! Although I’m sorry I made such a poor first impression on you.”

Marinette waved her hand dismissively. “That was my own fault for jumping to conclusions.”

“Well, that brings me to my next point… If I had left it at that and decided to just accept the poor impression I made on you didn’t matter, would you have started looking at those pictures just because you could claim you went to school with me?”

“No!” Marinette exclaimed. “I would have avoided anything to do with you in that case!”

Adrien laughed. “Wow, just imagine how awkward our reveal would have been!”

Marinette burst out laughing. “To be fair, if you were the sort of person I initially thought you were, you wouldn’t have been the sort of person Master Fu would choose for Chat Noir,” she pointed out.

“Yeah,” Adrien said, his eyes softening. He didn’t often think about what exactly had caused Master Fu to choose him. “I tend to think I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.”

“I know for a fact that there is more to it than that,” Marinette exclaimed sternly. “Master Fu told me a lot about how he chose us and in general what important qualities I would be looking for when considering a potential Miraculous holder.”

“Now _that_ is a conversation I definitely want to have with you and the Kwami when we have some time. But back to what we were talking about… I guess that you started wanting to know more about me after I gave you my umbrella and we became friends.”

“Well, yeah,” Marinette admitted. “I had never felt that way before so I guess I got excited and it was so easy to find little facts about you and pictures. I didn’t feel confident enough to talk to you but I kept hoping I would so I just tried to make more opportunities for myself to get to know you. You have always been so kind to me, even when I was a mess. It just made me like you even more.”

“I never thought you were a mess,” Adrien said, pulling her into his lap and looking into her deep blue eyes. “I’m afraid I was oblivious to your intent but I have to confess that was because I was entirely focused on Ladybug. You shouldn’t feel bad about looking at pictures of me. I was on the Ladyblog all the time looking at pictures of you and of us together, especially the picture of our kiss after taking out Oblivio.”

Marinette groaned and put her hands in her face. “Ugh, I’m sorry. I was kind of a jerk about that.”

“Awww, I’m sure it was unsettling realizing you were kissing someone you considered a good friend. I never held your reaction against you. But the fact that it happened gave me hope for us when I really needed it.” he smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. “But I think that we can conclude that we admired and even idealised each other. I don’t think we were objectifying each other because we both wanted to get to know one another better. The fact that we have alternate identities made it really complicated. And now… I would rather look at a picture of you with me or with our friends or just a cute picture of you that I took or something like that instead of looking at action shots of Ladybug. I’m guessing you feel the same?”

“Definitely,” Marinette confirmed. “I’m glad we talked about this.”

“Me too,” Adrien said, caressing around her ear. Marinette smiled at him and kissed his cheek. They sat quietly together, Marinette snuggled on his lap, their faces nearly touching, eyes locked together.

“Adrien,” she breathed, moving even closer. She could feel the warmth of his mouth, almost touching hers. She watched him close his eyes instinctively. She closed her own eyes, feeling the delicious feeling of anticipation racing through her body like electricity. She felt his arm wrapped supportively around her back. His other hand continued to stroke around her ear, then he stroked down to her chin before closing the small distance between them and kissing her fervently. Lightly, she rested her hands on his shoulders as they kissed each other with increasing intensity. Marinette moaned quietly as Adrien flicked his tongue against her lips and then into her mouth. Adrien tightened his hold around her back, pressing her against him. Marinette moved her own arms around his shoulders and buried her hands in his silky blonde hair. They clung to each other, revelling in their closeness.

“Mmmph,” Adrien finally pulled himself away from the kiss. “Sorry, I need to catch my breath.”

“Yeah, me too,” Marinette said, blushing. She sighed deeply and nestled her head into the side of his neck.

“I love holding you like this,” Adrien murmured quietly.

Marinette sighed with pleasure. “Believe me, I love you holding me just as much.”

Adrien laughed and kissed her forehead. “So are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Marinette asked.

“Yeah, Point B? Being together in front of our classmates?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been so caught up in… everything else I hadn’t thought about it and… ugh, I haven’t even done my homework!”

“Neither have I,” Adrien grinned. “But we still have all afternoon. We can stop by my house and I’ll pick up my school stuff. Then we can do our homework together if you like?”

“I would like that,” Marinette said, smiling. She slid off his lap and offered a hand to pull him up. “Let’s go!”


	2. Chapter 2

“If we walk to the next bridge along the waterfront, we can get to my house by crossing the street there,” Adrien said.

Marinette nodded. “Lead the way.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes. It was unusually quiet outside, even for a Sunday morning. There were no boats out on the water and they had only encountered a couple of joggers on their walk. The quiet was occasionally punctuated by an accelerating motorcycle or a car shifting gears on the nearby road.

“So,” Adrien said, finally breaking their silence as they approached the bridge. “I know we said we’re together as Marinette and Adrien. Does that mean I can call you… my girlfriend?”

Marinette blushed and nodded. “I guess it does… boyfriend.”

Now it was Adrien’s turn to blush but he also had a huge sunny smile on his face. “Wow, hearing you say that makes me feel so good!” he exclaimed, hugging her tightly.

“I know it’s going to be difficult to differentiate when we… aren’t Adrien and Marinette…” Marinette said, looking up at him. Adrien nodded to show he understood what she was saying. 

“Better to keep that side of our relationship professional,” he agreed.

“Yeah, I think it will be hard to stay focused if we introduce snuggling and kissing to that part of our life!” Marinette giggled.

“I don’t know how you were feeling about it, but I felt a lot more... comfortable? I don’t know if that’s the right word for it but anyway… during the last akuma battle.”

“It did feel easier. I felt more in tune with you, “Marinette said. “It feels good talking to you about Miraculous stuff.” Marinette said quietly.

“It makes me feel good that you trust me enough for that,” Adrien said, squeezing her hand gently. 

Together, they crossed the street and approached the formidable gate blocking entry to the Agreste mansion. A camera popped out from a little compartment and Adrien waved at it. Slowly, the gate slid open and the couple went inside. The house was completely silent as they walked to Adrien’s room.

“Who let us in?” Marinette wondered aloud.

“Oh, probably Gorilla. The camera sends a chime out in pretty much every room. He has a video monitor in his living quarters. I’ll text him just to let him know what’s up. He has a tendency not to communicate where I am unless specifically asked so I prefer checking in with him.” He opened the door to his room. “Come on in. I’ll go get my stuff.”

Marinette followed Adrien in and then went inside to sit on his couch. She pulled out her phone and decided to check her Instagram while she waited. Scrolling through the pictures, she paused as she saw Alya had posted a selfie with Nino from the movie night at the park.

‘Surprise double date night,’ she read silently. She noticed the post contained another picture. She swiped left and blanched at the incriminating photo.

“What were you saying the other day about well-meaning friends?” she groaned.

“Uh-oh,” Adrien said, laughing. “I think I also used the word intrusive.”

“I believe so,” Marinette said, sighing in exasperation and showing him the photo.

Adrien looked at the picture- he was feeding Marinette a piece of crepe and they were gazing at each other with a distinctly lovesick expression- and blushed. “Maybe we can change schools,” he joked. “I see there are quite a few comments.”

“Comments, ugh, I hadn’t even thought about that yet,” she tapped on the comment section and started reading. Her face grew redder and redder as she scrolled down. “Well, I guess at least our classmates are… mostly supportive?”

“Mostly, huh,” Adrien replied. “Can I take a wild guess at the naysayers?”

“I think you would guess right. Chloe is… obviously not impressed and Lila…” Marinette whistled. “I guess you getting her fired from modelling at Gabriel made the gloves come off. Usually her disses are way more passive aggressive.”

Adrien leaned over her shoulder to read Lila’s comment, his eyes narrowing in anger as he got to the end. “That is disgusting,” he said. “She is actually threatening physical harm on you. I’m so sorry how out of hand that situation has become. I hope at least our classmates see that and realize how much of her bad behaviour they have been justifying.” He went and grabbed his own phone. “I’m going to report her comment to Instagram. We know the school will buy whatever shit she lays down but maybe we can stop her bothering you on social media.”

Marinette smiled at how quickly Adrien had started working to protect her. “Oh, there are more comments under Lila’s comment now! Wow, looks like even Chloe thought that comment was unacceptable.” She read the blonde girl’s scathing take-down with a grin. “And Rose! Wow, usually she is so sweet… saying that, I’ve seen what she’s like when she’s had enough.”

Adrien read the comment on his own phone and laughed. “Her use of curse words is almost poetic. Yeah, I’d say Rose is done with Lila. Can’t say I’m sorry about that.”

“Me either. It made me pretty sad that Rose thought Lila was telling the truth and started keeping her distance from me. Things have definitely been improving very slowly at school. I guess all my other problems had me so preoccupied I didn’t have energy for engaging with conflict at school”

“Yeah, you have been pretty distracted in class. I think you probably missed half the things Lila tried to start with you which was really starting to take the wind out of her sails. I also think that when she said mean stuff and you didn’t even acknowledge it, she was unwittingly drawing more attention to what she was saying since she couldn’t manipulate your reaction.”

“”It’s interesting, isn’t it?” mused Marinette. “I’m happy with the result but I wasn’t reacting—or not reacting—intentionally. Whenever I actively tried to point out what Lila was doing, it caused more problems than it was worth. I wish I could figure out how I could repeat whatever it is I did if someone acted like that to me again.”

“Yeah, what must it be like to be so good at manipulating any situation to your benefit, twisting anyone’s emotions to suit your purpose.” Adrien wondered out loud.

“Pretty lonely, I would think,” Marinette replied. “If the only purpose for emotions is exploitation, how can a person like that be close to anyone?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t seem worth it at all to me,” Adrien agreed. “I wonder if she even chooses to be like this anymore or if she has created such a dark place for herself that she doesn’t know how to act any other way.”

Marinette sighed, “Who knows? Anyway,” she changed the subject. “We should get going.”

“Definitely,” Adrien slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed Marinette’s hand.

******

Marinette and Adrien were working quietly in her room when she heard a knock on her trap door.

“Come in,” Marinette called, looking up from her notes. 

Sabine opened the door. “It’s almost dinner time! Would you like to join us, Adrien?”

“Wow, I didn’t realize it was that late,” Adrien exclaimed. “I was expecting Natalie to text me by now.” He checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed a text notification. “No, she hasn’t texted me. I’ll message her and see if I can stay.” he rapidly sent a text. “Thanks, Sabine.”

“You are always welcome, Adrien,” she replied with a smile. “So, how are you two faring with your homework?”

“I just have one more question to answer for Calculus,” Adrien said. He smiled at Marinette. “It’s nice to have company even if we have both been busy with our own stuff.”

Sabine smiled as she observed Marinette’s cheeks turn pink. “I’d say my daughter feels the same. How much work do you have left to do, dear?”

“I’m almost done… just finishing an essay for history,” Marinette answered. 

“Wonderful!” Sabine exclaimed. “I’m glad you are not indulging in your usual evening rush.”

Adrien laughed. “Your maman is revealing all your secrets!” he teased. His phone chimed loudly with a text notification.

“Maybe you should check your phone and let me finish my work!” Marinette said, mock-scowling at him.

“Ooooh, looks like I’ve been told!” Adrien laughed, checking his phone. “Well looks like Natalie and my father are going to be home late. She says I can stay. I feel kind of bad for them having to work so late but I’m happy that it means I don’t have to eat by myself!”

Sabine furrowed her brow in concern. “Wait, if they were getting home on time, you’d still eat alone?”

“Probably,” Adrien shrugged. “Natalie might stand there and watch me eat but Father would be very unlikely to show up. I honestly don’t know when either of them eats. I rarely see them during mealtimes and even more rarely actually share a meal with them.“

“Goodness,” Sabine murmured. “Let me emphasise then, Adrien, you are always welcome here.”

Adrien’s expression softened. “Thanks, I really appreciate that.”

Sabine smiled and gave him a hug. “Well, finish your work and come on down. We’ll be ready to eat pretty soon.”


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette awoke to the harsh beeping of her phone alarm. “Ugh, is it already morning?” she groaned aloud. She sighed, remembering her 2am akuma wake-up.

“I know Marinette,” Tikki said sympathetically. “Those early morning akumas are really difficult to recover from. I’m just glad you are extraordinarily creative even without the suit. It makes for a great adrenaline rush when you transform and you definitely needed that this morning!”

“And again, I’ve learned something new,” Marinette laughed softly, splashing her face with water to wake herself up. “When I think about it, transforming feels like the excitement of sketching a new design. Now I know why.”

“Exactly,” confirmed Tikki. “Did you collect all your homework last night?”

“Yep,” Marinette nodded. “It’s all in my backpack.” She left the room to go take a shower and brush her teeth.

Twenty minutes later, Marinette was heading for school with a raging case of butterflies in her stomach. She walked up to the front steps and looked around to see if Adrien was already there. She waved at Alya and Nino who were huddling over Alya’s phone looking at something. They looked up and waved at her before returning their attention to the screen. Curiously, she walked over to see what had their attention.

“Hey you two, what are you looking at?” she asked.

“I just uploaded some pictures from the akuma attack this morning,” Alya explained. “I am so psyched that I actually woke up from the alert going off on my phone. I’m tired but it was totally worth it. I don’t know what happened between Ladybug and Chat Noir but they are on fire. She showed her phone to Marinette who had to admit, the pictures were amazing.

Marinette took the phone from Alya so she could see the rest of the pictures. “Wow, you know, I bet Ladybug and Chat Noir appreciate how much trouble you go to document each of their akumas.”

“I hope so, Girl. I think I’m getting better at staying out of the way and not being distracting.”

Marinette grinned to herself. _‘So Alya had actually figured that out. Smart girl,’_ she thought. She scrolled down, watching the battle with akuma play out— its light emitting glow giving a surreal feeling to each photo. The moment she had seen Chat Noir, she had felt an electrifying connection between them. It took no more than a few words or a quick gesture from her for Chat to decipher her intent. She admired a photo which captured this perfectly. She was gesturing at the location of the butterfly and Chat was flying nearly simultaneously at it, his hand crackling with destructive power. She scrolled on to see the next photo when she was startled by an arm slipping around her waist.

“Sorry, Princess didn’t mean to scare you,” Adrien said, looking over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. “Wow, I heard this fight was at 2am or something. Were you actually up taking pictures, Alya?”

Alya nodded. “Totally worth it too.”

“I’ll say” Adrien agreed. “These are incredible. Did you take them with your phone?”

“I actually borrowed my sister’s digital SLR and her zoom lens,” Alya admitted. “Believe me, I returned them as soon as I transferred the pictures off the memory card and I definitely would not have done that if she wasn’t sound asleep.”

Nino whistled. “You didn’t tell me you borrowed Nora’s camera. I am pretty sure that is more insane than taking pictures of an akuma battle.”

Alya laughed. “Well hopefully you aren’t going to tell on me, are you babe?”

“Are you kidding? How am I going to play Super Pinguino with you if you’re in a full body cast?” Nino winked suggestively.

Alya turned bright red. “Babe!” she gasped.

“Do you ever get the feeling that ‘playing Super Pinguino’ means something entirely different with those two?” Adrien whispered in Marinette’s ear.

Marinette burst into giggles. “It has....occurred...to me.” she managed to get out before succumbing to another bout of giggles. Adrien smiled widely, delighted at his girlfriend’s reaction to his joke.

“Hey can I have my phone back before you end up dropping it?” Alya asked, trying to sound offended but Adrien could see she was trying not to smile. Still laughing, Marinette handed it back to her.

“What’s the matter Alya? You can dish out the teasing but you can’t take it?” she asked as she finally stopped giggling.

Alya raised an eyebrow. “Well, Agreste, now that she’s dating you, is this the sort of thing I’ll have to put up with?”

“Haven’t you heard? We’re the dream team!” he said with a cheeky bow.

“Yeah, yeah, lets go before we’re late for class,” Alya grumbled. She grabbed Nino’s arm to drag him inside. Slyly, he lifted his other arm to give a fist bump to Adrien.

“Good work, dude,” he said with a grin. “It’s not often someone gets the last word with my girl.”

Adrien grinned. “I’m sure it won’t happen again anytime soon,” he said, winking at Alya. “Marinette are you ready to go?” he asked, offering her his hand. She nodded as she took it and he led her into class.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had an idea for a trope I have seen a lot of. No spoilers but I did go all out with it. I have no idea if anyone else shares my weird sense of humor but I definitely wrote this for my own entertainment and I laughed a lot while I was writing it. I hope you enjoy!

Marinette was not surprised by the rather exuberant reaction from her classmates when she entered the classroom hand in hand with Adrien. There was applause from Rose, Juleka, Mylene and Alix. Kim let out a wolf whistle and Ivan cheered loudly. Of course, Chloe was doing her best to pretend nothing was happening so Sabrina was following suit. Lila was openly scowling, her eyes shooting daggers at Marinette. Adrien grinned mischievously at Marinette and grabbed her by the waist and dipped her.

“Adrien!” she shrieked, arms flailing in surprise as he brought her back up.

“Ok class, calm down,” Miss Bustier walked in, looking around to see what had caused such a ruckus. Her eyes lit up in recognition. “Ah,” she said, her eyes settling on Marinette and Adrien. “Everyone to your seats!” she said smoothly as she pulled a large roll of paper from underneath her desk. Several students laughed in recognition--everyone apart from Marinette and Adrien knew what the teacher was about to unroll.

Adrien gave Marinette a wink before letting her go to her seat. He sat down in his usual spot in front of her. Curiously, he watched as Miss Bustier smoothed out a large and rather complicated looking chart. He felt his phone buzz and subtly looked at the message.

Marinette: Can’t believe u dipped me. U r a naughty kitty.

He turned to look at her but she was studiously focused on the teacher. He grinned and turned back around to face the front. To his mortification, he realized the chart was a very complicated betting pool with “Adrinette” written on the top in large, glittery letters.

“Who-what, huh?” he gaped. The whole class had apparently been waiting to see his and Marinette’s reaction because everyone burst into laughter (except Lila). Even Chloe was laughing in a somehow begrudging way. Miss Bustier was also giggling with her hand over her mouth in a fruitless attempt to hide her amusement.

“I know we have work to do, but I don’t believe we should ignore this historic occasion,” Miss Bustier said when the class had settled down. Marinette groaned and buried her red face in her arms. Adrien watched as his teacher unlocked a drawer in her desk and pulled out a glass jar full of Euros. “Ok, who asked who out?” she asked, eyeing the couple. Red-faced, Adrien raised his hand. Nodding approvingly, she dragged her finger down the chart. “20 Euros split between Ivan, Nino, Max and Kim!” The four boys came down and each accepted a 5 Euro note. 

“So are you two official?” she asked next. Marinette nodded silently. 

“Since Saturday, “ Adrien elaborated. _‘Technically Friday night but that would raise too many questions.’_ he thought to himself.

“Let’s see… nobody bet on that exact date but Juleka bet on that week so 20 Euros for you, my dear!” she waved the 20 Euro note until Juleka came down and claimed it.

“Has there been,” Miss Bustier paused, her eyes twinkling. Adrien and Marinette groaned together, having a very good idea of their teacher’s next question. Nino laughed loudly at his friend’s extremely embarrassed expression. “I have a feeling the question is when, not if in this case. So when was the first kiss?”

“Saturday,” Adrien repeated, blushing all the way to his ears.

“Saturday, hmmm? Busy day for you two!” their teacher said with a small giggle.

“Alya and I can vouch for that,” Nino smirked. “It was a double date!”

Miss Bustier laughed and checked the date on the chart. Well, no one picked that date but Nino! You have that week. Well done!” Nino laughed uproariously as he went up to collect his winnings.

“Ok, last winner gets the change. It should be 40 Euros for this one.” Miss Bustier shook the glass jar. “Who confessed first?”

A muffled sound came from Marinette, whose face was still buried in her arms.

“Marinette, did you really confess first?” Rose said in an awed voice.

Marinette lifted her bright red face off her arms. “Yep,” she said simply.

Rose and Mylene both squealed with excitement. “Congratulations!” Mylene exclaimed. “We’re proud of you girl!”

Marinette muttered something unintelligible and put her face back down on her arms.

Miss Bustier checked her chart. “Let’s see. Rose, Myline, Alya, Chloe and Sabrina… you are our final winners!” She rolled up the chart and handed out the rest of the winnings. “Now can everyone hand in their homework from this weekend…”

After an extremely mortifying start, the rest of the day was uneventful. By the end of the school day, both teens felt completely worn out. They got together quietly on the steps, waiting for Gorilla to come pick Adrien up.

“I’m afraid I can’t stop by tonight,” Adrien said apologetically as he played with Marinette’s pigtails. “Father actually wants to have dinner with me this evening.”

“Aw, that’s ok,” Marinette said comfortingly. “Maybe it will be… nice.” She did her best to hide her skepticism but didn’t quite succeed. She had spent the last few years hearing different stories from Adrien and Chat Noir. Having put all those stories together, Gabriel Agreste had greatly fallen in her esteem.

Adrien laughed at the unconvinced tone to her voice. It was so freeing to have someone with a clear picture of his family life who was on his side and loved him despite all of it. A lesser girl would have run screaming but Marinette was entirely resolute, willing to support him and absolutely steaming at the injustice of his father’s continuing mistreatment of him. Looking down at her concerned expression, he suddenly felt nearly overcome with his feelings for her.

“I’m so lucky to have you,” he said, tenderly cupping her face between his hands. “I love you,” he said, gazing into her eyes with such sincerity that she could feel tears pricking behind them.

“I love you too,” she said, without a single pause or stutter.

Leaning down, he kissed her firmly on the mouth, holding her face gently to his. 

She smiled up at him as they parted. “Call me later if you can, ok?” she asked.

“Maybe I’ll drop by late to tuck you in,” he said with a sly smile.

Marinette laughed and lowered her voice as she murmured directly into his ear, “That’s the second time today! Your Chat is showing.” she leaned back, enjoying his surprised expression and pink cheeks.

“Ok, ok, I surrender,” he said, making a hands up gesture. “Clearly my flirtations are no match for you.”

Marinette laughed, “Oh, I don’t know about that. At any rate, your ride is here.”

“See you later, Princess,” he said, kissing her hand.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting in this chapter, I am going to start showing the deterioration of Adrien’s relationship with his father. I have started working out my entire story arc and that is going to pay a key point to the plot. There is still lots of fluff and lots of sweet talks that are also very important to where this story is going! Hope you enjoy!

Marinette was not even slightly surprised when she heard the telltale light thump late that night. Adrien had texted her after dinner to say he was ok but he had not elaborated. She had decided after her homework was finished to pick some pjs and get ready for bed. Then she could just work on her sketches in bed and see if he turned up. After looking through her many sets of pajamas, her eyes lit on the perfect ones, her Chat Noir romper. She had come up with the design a few months back when the exceptionally hot days of late summer made her crave something lighter than her usual pajama pants. Thus, she had made a black, button down romper from soft jersey cotton. The shorts skimmed the tops of her thighs and the sleeveless design showed off her toned arms. The drapey material was gathered by a cinched waist with a lime-green drawstring. The buttons down the front were also lime green and there was a small chest pocket with a green paw print patch sewn to it.

Feeling confident that she had nailed the supportive but also cute girlfriend vibe she was going for, she put her sketchbook down and opened the hatch. 

“Hey,” Chat Noir said, dropping through the hatch opening and closing it behind him. 

“Hey,” Marinette said back. “I’m glad to see you!” 

Chat smiled at her and moved away from the hatch before de-transforming. 

“I left some Camembert on the desk for you,” Marinette said to Plagg as he floated near Adrien’s face. 

“Aw, thanks Pigtails!” Plagg exclaimed, rapturously descending on the cheese board Marinette had arranged. 

Tikki floated up from her nearby plate of cookies. “Evening Stinky Sock,” she said teasingly. Plagg muttered something back but his mouth was too full of cheese for anyone to understand what he said.

Adrien turned his attention from his Kwami to Marinette. Taking in what she was wearing, his eyes widened and his smile turned into a goofy grin. “Marinette!” he said with a strangled laugh. “Are you trying to kill me? Y-you look…” he trailed off, reaching over to stroke her waist. “I am guessing you made these yourself?”

Marinette nodded and blushed, pleased that he liked the pajamas so much. “Hey, are you wearing… Ladybug pajamas?”

Adrien grinned. “Yeah, I doubt they make the same… impact… as yours. Mine are just merch, not designed by the great Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

She stroked his cheek gently, “I’ll have to make you some pajamas sometime, won’t I? I’ll even do my interpretation of Ladybug pjs.”

“I would love that,” he said breathlessly.

“Sounds like a fun next project,” she smiled. “So how was dinner with your father?” Her smile faltered as Adrien’s face fell.

“He was really pissed off about… I don’t even know. He was complaining about a lot of stuff. I don’t even know why he chose to eat with me unless he just wanted an opportunity to take out all his frustration on me.”

“Oh, Adrien,” Marinette pulled the covers back on her bed and sat back against the headboard. “Come here and let me hold you.” Adrien smiled a little and crept closer to her. Marinette pushed him gently to lay down on her lap. Carefully, she cradled his head against her thigh and pulled the covers over his body.

“This is really nice. Thank you, Marinette,” he murmured as she stroked his hair.

“So was dinner the first time you talked to your father since he got back?” she asked, scratching his scalp lightly.

Adrien sighed happily. It was difficult to talk about how his father treated him but Marinette’s loving attention was very reassuring. “Ummm, please don’t stop doing that,” he asked, closing his eyes. “And yes, I hadn’t even seen him until this evening. Honestly, I see him less and less. My mother disappeared all at once but Father seems to be following in her footsteps at a much slower pace.”

Marinette was glad Adrien had closed his eyes. Her own were suddenly prickling with tears hearing her Kitty reveal such a heart-wrenching fact. She took a deep breath and blinked rapidly to clear her head a bit but she kept her fingers buried in his hair as she went from lightly scratching to gently massaging his scalp. “Do you… ever talk to him about… how he treats you?” she asked hesitantly.

“Used to,” he mumbled. He had never experienced a scalp massage before and it was absolute bliss. “It never helped much though. So I gave up. Now I just try to stay calm. I don’t want to get akumatised.” His eyes opened suddenly. “You know, he used to be so protective… telling me how the outside world would hurt me, stuff like that. Now it almost feels like he’s trying to see how much abuse I’ll take before I lose control. I don’t understand it. Everyone knows the risks of losing control of your feelings in this city. I don’t know why he is willing to gamble on something happening to me now.”

Marinette paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. “Yeah, that is strange.” she agreed.

Adrien nuzzled her leg. “Thank you for listening and the attention. It felt really good.” Carefully he sat up and sat next to her against the headboard of her bed.

“I’m always here for you, Adrien, she said sincerely. “If something is bothering you and you want to talk about it, I’m always happy to listen.”

“I love you,” he replied, hugging her tightly.

“I love you too, she said, wrapping her arms around him. 

“It’s pretty late,” he said, kissing her cheek. “I should go. Thanks again, you’ve made me feel a lot better.”

“Anytime,” Marinette smiled at him. “See you tomorrow, Kitty.

“Goodnight, Bug,” he kissed her lips lightly. “Plagg, Claws out!”

Marinette smiled as she watched him hop away. She was relieved that Adrien was trusting her enough to confide in her but her heart ached to think of the lonely home he was now heading back to.


	6. Chapter 6

For the next few days, Marinette barely saw Adrien outside of class as his busy schedule reasserted itself with a vengeance. They were still in constant contact via text but they both sorely missed each other’s presence. Marinette couldn’t even steal him away for lunch as his father kept organizing photo shoots that forced him to eat on the run and even made him late to class afterwards. Adrien was so tired in the evenings, he didn’t even have the energy to sneak out and see Marinette. He was incredibly thankful that no akumas showed up because he was not confident that he would be able to provide Ladybug with the support she needed.

By Wednesday, Marinette was desperate enough to start getting up early in order to spend some time with Adrien before school. Each morning she would bring a box of pastries and mini baguettes to a secluded bench near the school. Adrien started bring smoothies for both of them and they would spend those precious moments alone together eating and talking about whatever crossed their minds.

On Friday, as they were enjoying their breakfast, Marinette decided to ask about something she had been wondering since Mr. Agreste had returned.

“Does your father know about… us?” she asked.

“Well, I haven’t told him and he hasn’t mentioned it so I’m not sure,” Adrien answered. “It’s difficult. He’s my father and I remember better times, even good memories but right now, I don’t trust him. He tends to… weaponize any relationship I have that he didn’t instigate himself… I know I can’t protect you from him forever but for now… I just want you to know, I’m not keeping you away from what little family I have because I’m embarrassed o-or ashamed. I just don’t want him to hurt you.”

“I completely understand,” Marinette said, putting her hand on top of his. “I wish I could keep him from hurting you.”

“Knowing I have you makes it hurt a lot less,” he assured her, smiling. He leaned over and kissed her softly.

Marinette smiled up at him and lightly stroked his cheek. “Do you have any free time this weekend?”

Adrien took out his phone and checked his schedule. “Ugh, not until dinnertime on Saturday… but there is nothing on the schedule for dinner.” He quickly sent a text to Natalie. “I’ve just asked Natalie if I can make my own arrangements for dinner tomorrow,” he explained.

At that moment, the first bell rang. The couple finished their smoothies and threw away their trash.

“Shall we?” Adrien grinned and offered Marinette his hand. She took it and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Let’s go, Gorgeous!” she laughed, squeezing his hand. His eyes widened at the endearment she had used and his smile flickered in surprise before returning brightly.

_‘Hmmm, maybe that was a bit too much’_ thought Marinette. 

At that moment, Alya and Nino walked up behind them as they went up the steps to the entrance.

“Hey you two, any plans for the weekend?” Alya asked.

“Working on it,” Adrien said. “My schedule has been awful all week so I’m trying to get a break.”

“No offense dude, but your Pops is the worst,” griped Nino.

“You’ll get no arguments here,” Adrien said in frustration.

Alya and Nino exchanged a look of surprise. Usually Adrien seemed pretty resigned to his schedule. They had rarely seen him openly express anything but acceptance of the way his father seemed to control his life.

“Well, I know you’ll want to spend time with your girl if you can so… maybe we can meet up online for a game of Ultimate Mech Strike,” Nino offered.

“That sounds great… and if I can get away on Sunday, maybe we can all meet up and play.”

“Sounds great my dude. Just let me know.”

The four teens walked into their classroom and sat in their usual spots. Adrien’s phone chimed with a notification. As he was reading the message, Marinette quickly texted him.

Marinette: Sorry if calling u Gorgeous was too much. Trying to avoid calling you CN things.

Adrien was reading the reply from Natalie when he saw the text notification from Marinette. He read her text and smiled. Then he texted back.

Adrien: No need to apologize! I liked it. I just didn’t expect it. I nearly called u milady just b4 that but stopped myself.  
Adrien: Also, Natalie said I’m free to do what I like for dinner 2mrw. So, can I take u out on a date, just the 2 of us?

Marinette read his texts with a huge smile on her face and quickly replied back.

Marinette: I would love that! What time?

Alya glanced at her friend’s giddy expression. “Looks like you got some good news, girl!” she said teasingly.

Marinette blushed but was spared making a reply as the final bell rang and Miss Bustier walked into the classroom.


	7. Chapter 7

As usual, Marinette woke up early to help her parents with the Saturday morning rush. Feeling a little guilty for working so little the previous weekend, she set her alarm half an hour earlier than usual.

“Marinette!” her Maman exclaimed in surprise as they met in the dining room. “I was just on my way to make sure you were awake!”

“I thought I’d try to be earlier. I know this is when it’s the busiest,” Marinette said. “I feel bad about not helping as much last week too.”

“Oh you shouldn’t feel bad about that dear!” Sabine exclaimed, giving her daughter a hug. “You both looked so happy, it was worth it to me to let you have more time.”

Marinette blushed but smiled appreciatively. “Thanks Maman.”

“Speaking of a certain blonde boy that makes you smile all the time… Do you two have plans this weekend?”

“Oh, I totally forgot to ask yesterday. He wants to take me out to dinner tonight. Is that ok?”

“That is absolutely fine, dear,” Sabine assured her and Marinette heaved a sigh of relief.

“Well I’m ready when you are Maman. I’m sure Papa is wondering what happened to us.”

“He’ll be pleasantly surprised when we come down together,” Sabine laughed.

******

After a busy morning in the bakery, traffic didn’t let up right to the point where they shut their doors for lunch break at 1pm. After lunch, her parents went downstairs to restock the display case before opening the doors again. Marinette went up to her room. A thought had occurred to her while she was working and she wanted to check her calendar.

“I was right! I knew Adrien’s birthday was pretty soon. Three weeks from today. I need to do some serious planning.” Quickly, she messaged Alya.

Marinette: Adrien’s bday is in 3wks! I need help!  
Alya: Got it sis, I will think about it. U seeing him 2nite?  
Marinette: Yep, will make discrete inquiries.  
Alya: Discrete, you? Lol  
Marinette: Well, I’ll try :P

Satisfied that she had set plans in motion, she pulled out her sketchbook and flipped to a new page. ‘Operation: Birthday Present’ she thought to herself with a smile. She set an alarm on her phone to remind her to get ready for her date and went to work.

Marinette had covered two pages in designs, going into detail on her three favorites, when her phone alarm went off. She looked up from her work, momentarily confused.

“You better get ready, Marinette!” Tikki said cheerfully, surveying her chosen’s work. “These are amazing! And there are so many!” she exclaimed, pouring over the various sketches, several already colored in black and red.

“Thanks, Tikki!” Marinette said, stretching her arms above her head. “Any thoughts on what I should wear?”

“Hmmm,” Tikki said, tapping her tiny chin, thoughtfully. “I think I have an idea.” She zipped into the closet and Marinette could hear her rifling through the hangers. Soon the rifling sounds stopped. “Marinette?” Tikki called.

Marinette walked over to the closet and opened the door. Tikki was pulling on the skirt of a dress she hadn’t worn yet.

“Ooooh,” Marinette’s eyes lit up as she pulled the dress out to look at it. The dress had two layers, a midnight blue slip dress with thin straps and a top layer which was made of sheer midnight blue organza. The stiff fabric of the top layer had allowed Marinette to make a structured shirt dress with a peter pan collar and two organza-covered one-inch buttons on a mock button down neckline that went to the top of the slip dress. It had short sleeves and a slightly looser fit to emphasise the slim silhouette of the slip dress underneath.

Tikki watched her chosen eyeing the dress and couldn’t help but get excited herself as Marinette hung the dress on a hook then raced around picking accessories and make-up. She slipped on both layers of the dress over a dark blue, strapless bodysuit then twisted her dark hair into a chignon and pushed in a number of crystal topped pins to secure it. She put shimmery highlighter down the center of her nose, the tops of her cheeks and added a small smudge below the arches of her eyebrows. She opened an eyeshadow palette and brushed metallic copper on her eyelids which made her blue eyes stand out even more. She added a couple coats of mascara and nodded in approval at her reflection. She grabbed a small blue velvet clutch and slipped a pair of metallic copper wedges on her feet.

“Marinette, Adrien is here,” Sabine said, popping open the trap door. “Darling, you look beautiful! I don’t think I’ve seen that dress, have I?”

Marinette shook her head. “I made it a few months ago but I haven’t had a good opportunity to wear it,” she explained.

“Well, I guess now you do!” Sabine laughed.

“I’ll be right down,” Marinette promised. “I just need to put my things in my clutch.”

“Ok, maybe I’ll make sure your Papa stands near Adrien in case he faints when he sees you!”

“Maman!” Marinette exclaimed. Sabine just laughed and headed downstairs.

Quickly, Marinette opened her clutch to invite Tikki to zoom in from her hiding place. She grabbed her wallet, keys and phone and carefully placed them inside along with a macaron for Tikki. Tikki looked up at her and winked playfully. Marinette grinned back and winked before heading down the steps.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Next chapter is the date and it’s long so I thought I would add this short one today even though I already added a chapter this morning. I will put the date chapter up tomorrow!

Adrien loitered nervously in the living room with Marinette’s parents. The day had been busy and tiring, finishing with a twilight fashion shoot which had concluded just twenty minutes ago.

“So what have you been up to today, Adrien?” Tom asked. “I gather you have a busy schedule.”

“Yes sir,” Adrien said. “I had to get up early for a two hour fencing session then I had a chinese lesson and then I went to a photo shoot which just ended. Fortunately, it was nearby so I just walked here.”  
“Is your outfit from the photoshoot?” Sabine asked. “It looks more formal than what we normally see you wearing. I think Marinette will really like it.”  
Adrien blushed, “It’s the last outfit from the shoot. I thought it was cool and asked the stylist if I could keep it on because I had a date tonight. She got really excited and insisted on it which was really kind of her. She even gave me a bag for my regular clothes,” he held up a plain white gift bag.

“You can leave that here if you like, dear, Sabine said.

“That would be great, thank you!” he smiled, starting to relax. He really did like Marinette’s parents.

Suddenly, he heard the clicking of dress shoes coming down the steps. “Hi Adrien, sorry to…” the rest of the sentence came to an abrupt stop as Marinette gaped at him. “Ohmygosh!” she gabbled, her heels clicking rapidly as she walked up to him.

Meanwhile, Adrien’s words had entirely left him the moment he saw her in the beautiful blue dress. Her pale skin glowed against the blue organza and there was something about her eyes that made them seem even brighter. She looked so grown-up and so… beautiful. He could see from her expression that she was admiring him as he was admiring her. Hesitantly, she stroked the velvet sleeves of his slim black tuxedo jacket. He was wearing it over a silver button down shirt with the top two buttons left undone and a pair of skinny black silk trousers that matched the lapels of the jacket. 

“You two look absolutely stunning together,” Sabine said, breaking the silence. “Can I get a picture?”

Adrien nodded, still having difficulty articulating anything and pulled Marinette into him. He slipped his arm around her waist and she leaned her head into him. Her mother held up her phone and took a few pictures.

“Have a nice evening, kids,” Tom said, surreptitiously wiping a tear from his eye. He was not about to admit how touching he had found the scene that had just played out in front of him.

“Thanks Papa,” Marinette said softly. She looked up at Adrien and after another deep breath, he smiled and led her down to the street below.


	9. Chapter 9

“Are you all right to walk in those?” Adrien asked, gesturing at her shoes as they left the bakery. “The restaurant isn’t far but I can call Gorilla if you need me to.”

Marinette smiled up at him, “I’m fine to walk,” she said softly.

“You look so beautiful,” Adrien told her. “I’m sorry I didn’t say that before. I kind of lost my words for a bit. Did you make this dress yourself?”

Marinette nodded, “Yes, I did. This is the first time I’ve worn it.” she leaned her head against him as they walked. “And maybe you didn’t notice, but I had the same losing-my-words problem.” She squeezed his hand. “You look very handsome.”

Impulsively, Adrien gave her a little spin before pulling her back to him and kissing her cheek. Marinette giggled and turned her face to him, enjoying the feeling of his arm wrapped protectively around her, their fingers still laced together and the warmth of his chest against her back. Catching her eye, he grinned and leaned down to kiss her softly.

“I have a reservation so we better get going,” he murmured.

“Wow, where are we going?” Marinette asked.

“You’ll see, it isn’t much further,” Adrien grinned.

A few minutes later, Adrien stopped outside a dimly lit restaurant with a red painted exterior. Gallantly, he opened the door. “After you!” he said smiling at her.

“Thank you kind sir!” she returned, winking at him as she want past him into the waiting area.

“But of course milady,” he murmured in her ear as he let the door shut behind them and lightly rested his hand on her back.The combination of the familiar nickname and the warmth of Adrien’s hand on her back made Marinette shiver a little. “Are you cold?” he asked her quietly.

“No, I didn’t shiver because I was cold,” she whispered.

He looked at her curiously but his reply was interrupted by a young woman in a sharply tailored suit approaching them. “Mr. Agreste!” she exclaimed. “I’m glad to see you again. I was hoping you would try our restaurant eventually!”

“I didn’t have an occasion to until now,” Adrien smiled and slid his arm around Marinette to give her a gentle squeeze. “Marinette, this is Miss Laurent. She is the Maitre’ D here. I met her at Paris Fashion Week last year.

“Wow,” Marinette said. “Paris Fashion Week… that’s a-amazing.”

“Maybe this year we can go together,”Adrien said to her. “You would probably get a lot more from it than me.” He turned and smiled at Miss Laurent. “Marinette is a fashion designer. She made this dress herself!”

“It’s incredible and it suits you perfectly,” Miss Laurent complimented her. “Miss…”

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Marinette introduced herself. “Pleased to meet you!”

“The pleasure is mine!” Miss Laurent replied. “May I show you to your table?”

Adrien nodded and they both followed the Maitre’ D to a secluded table tucked into an alcove.

“I hope this is acceptable. I know we were interrupted many times when we met before so I thought you would appreciate some privacy.”

“This is perfect, thank you,” Adrien replied appreciatively.

“You are very welcome!” She pulled the table out enough for them to slide onto the banquette seat together before pushing the table back in place. She then took out two large black leather folders and a smaller red one that she had been holding under her arm. “Here are your menus and the wine list. Your waiter will be by shortly. Enjoy your meal!” Adrien nodded his thanks and she turned and walked back to the front of the restaurant.

“This place is fabulous, Adrien,” Marinette said in awe. “I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere this… fancy. Won’t your father be mad about you spending so much money on dinner?”

“Ah,” Adrien grinned devilishly. “He would have to go to considerable effort to know.” Marinette looked at him inquisitively. “One of the stylists at a shoot asked me if I got paid for my work about eight months ago. I said no and she looked kind of upset but I didn’t think anything about it. Father has always been clear that I had to contribute to earn what he called a ‘life of privilege’. So, I just did what he told me to. Turns out, he was breaking a few EU labor laws specifically related to family employment of minors. His accountant told him he needed to start paying me at market rate and retroactively compensate me for every shoot I had ever done or he’d get a huge fine from the EU or worse. The accountant also pointed out all the rules for the amount of hours a minor can work and long story short, my shoots are no longer as frequent or as long and I get paid. Although most of it goes into a savings account, I get to keep 10% as spending money and Father no longer gives me any other allowance. I’m fine with that. I know exactly what I earn and he can’t tell me how to spend my own money. I have a debit card attached to a checking account and technically he can view my transactions since I’m a minor but he has to go to the bank to do it and provide ID and my father would never deign to commit such mundane errands so I think I’m pretty safe.”

“I can’t believe he wasn’t paying you!” Marinette said, looking disgusted. “My parents have always paid me the usual hourly rate when I work in the bakery. Although I’m sure that pales in comparison to the market rates for models. Still, you contribute to the success of Gabriel so you should be paid accordingly. I can’t believe it took threatening to send in the EU regulators for him to do the right thing!”

Adrien smiled at his girlfriend’s offended expression. “I can’t tell you how nice it is to have the voice of justice on my side!” he laughed.

Marinette gave a wry grin as she looked at the menu. “I’m afraid my wages won’t stretch to treats like this. I could probably buy you a McDonalds!” she laughed.

“You know, I’ve never been there. Nino keeps saying he’ll take me but it hasn’t happened yet.”

“That will be our next double date then,” Marinette said with a giggle.

Adrien grinned happily and kissed her cheek. “I’m always glad to hear about more dates,” he replied.

“Well I am always happy to spend time with you whether it’s a date or at school or just hanging out,” Marinette said. “Although for now, I’m concentrating on this date which means I need to figure out what I want to eat!”

“Very true, I haven’t even looked at it. I’ve been too busy looking at you!” Adrien teased. He watched her cheeks get pink but she kept her focus on the menu. Her eyes briefly flicked up as she reached over and put her hand on top of his. Sighing with contentment, he looked at his menu and narrowed it down to two choices. He’d ask the waiter which one he should pick. He glanced at the wine list and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble since they were minors.

“I think we should just get water,” Marinette whispered to him. “I mean.. They might think they should offer us wine but I don’t know if they realize we are minors.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” he whispered back. “Have you figured out what you want to eat?”

“I think so,” she murmured.

“Good, because our waiter is coming,” he replied.

After discussing their picks with the waiter and placing their order, they sat back to relax and wait for their food.

“So, do you have any plans for your birthday? If not, would you like to have plans for your birthday?” Marinette asked.

Adrien laughed. “I do not have any plans for my birthday. Do you have plans for my birthday?

“Not yet!” Marinette answered. “I was going to be sneaky about it but I’ve suddenly decided I would rather know exactly what you would like.”

“That’s a good question. It’s three weeks from today I think. Let me look at my calendar and see if Natalie has scheduled anything.”

“On your birthday?” Marinette exclaimed, horrified. “What, your father wants you at a Chinese lesson on your birthday?

“It would not surprise me,” Adrien replied grimly, looking at his phone. “Well, currently there is… nothing there. That’s a nice surprise!”

“Great!” Marinette exclaimed brightly. “So would you like to hang out with the entire class or just a few close friends or even just the two of us?”

“Not gonna lie, spending my birthday with you sounds wonderful. But, Nino would kill me.” Adrien said.

“Well maybe we could do something with Nino and Alya at my house. Maybe a movie night? Or we could play video games?”

“I would love that,” Adrien beamed. “Thanks, Marinette, you are the best!” he picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles, then the tips of her fingers, his green eyes twinkling with delight.

“Awww, you two are so cute!” the Maitre’ D stopped as she walked past. “Can I take a picture for you?”

“Oh, thank you Miss Laurent! Could you take one with each of our phones?” Adrien asked. She nodded and took both of their phones.

“Ok, this one first,” she said, picking up Marinette’s phone and holding it up to take a picture. Adrien draped his arm around her and pulled her close before Miss Laurent pressed the button. “Great, now this one!” Marinette turned and kissed Adrien’s cheek as she took the picture. Miss Laurent nodded approvingly and handed their phones back to them.

Adrien looked at the picture on his phone and his expression softened. “I cannot think of anything better than this to remember our second date by. You make me feel so loved, Marinette.”

Marinette took his hand and squeezed it. “You are loved,” she assured him quietly.

They were still gazing at each other, completely lovestruck when their food arrived. Marinette was amazed at the number of people required to bring food to the two of them. Their artfully arranged plates were carefully presented to each of them by two separate waiters. Another proffered a basket of different kinds of bread rolls first to Marinette and then to Adrien. A fourth brought a fresh bottle of water and refilled the glasses on their table. The final waiter arranged the specific silverware for each dish in the appropriate spots around their plates. “Bon Appetit,” he said as they moved away as a group.

“Look at this, it’s so beautiful,” Marinette breathed, admiring the delicate placement of pea shoots and the dots and swirls of two different sauces. Everything worked together to emphasize the five scallops arranged on the bright white plate. Marinette thought it was probably bad manners but she couldn’t resist taking a picture with her phone.

Adrien watched how she carefully examined the design of the plate, feeling like he might melt into a puddle, he was so overwhelmed with love and happiness at that moment. She looked up and noticed him watching her after she took the picture.

“Sorry! I don’t mean to be embarrassing. I’ve just… never seen such beautiful food before,” she apologized, blushing.

“You aren’t embarrassing me,” he murmured, smiling reassuringly at her.

She smiled back, “I hate to wreck this but I guess that’s the best way to appreciate the intent of this particular art.” The teens turned to their meals and each took a bite.

“Wow,” Adrien said in awe.

“Uh-huh,” Marinette agreed.

They ate quietly, occasionally looking at each other and smiling. Marinette tried to absorb every detail around her so she could remember it all again and again. A waiter eventually stopped by to top up their water glasses and quietly placed a dessert menu on the table.

Adrien took the menu and glanced through the choices. “Well, Plagg will never forgive me if I don’t order a cheese plate. What would you like, Bugaboo?”

Marinette leaned against him and read through the list. “I think Tarte Tatin. We don’t sell that at the bakery so I almost never get to have it.”

“So does that mean you’re not going to share?” Adrien asked teasingly.

“If we add the homemade ice cream on the side I will,” she bargained.

“Deal.”

After placing their order, Adrien looked around for a way to hide Plagg while he enjoyed his cheese.

“He can join Tikki in my clutch, I have room,” Marinette whispered.

“But it’ll make your bag smell like cheese.”

“Eh, we’ll give it to him one piece at a time, it’ll be gone so fast I doubt it will make too much of a smell,” Marinette shrugged and opened her clutch. To her surprise, Plagg had already curled up with Tikki. Wordlessly, she showed Adrien her bag’s contents.

“Wow, that could have been a panic. He was in my inside pocket! He must have phased in there at some point,” Adrien whispered.

Marinette carefully put her bag down between them. “There, we can alternate sneaking him cheese,” she murmured.

Adrien leaned over and kissed next to her ear. “Genius as always,” he murmured back quietly before pulling away.

After a few more minutes, the army of waiters returned. One retrieved their dinner plates and silverware, another set out two small, white coffee cups along with a matching pitcher of milk and a small bowl of raw sugar and a third carefully set a cafetière full of fresh coffee between the cups. As those three waiters stepped back, another came forward to place their desserts in front of them, another placed the ice cream next to Marinette’s dessert and the final waiter arranged the appropriate dessert cutlery. 

“Would you like some coffee?” Marinette asked as the crowd of waiters disappeared back to the kitchen.

“Are you going to make me another Marinette Special? Because if so, yes.” he replied.

Marinette giggled as she carefully pressed the plunger down and poured coffee in each cup. She added a generous amount of cream and a spoonful of sugar to each cup before giving them each a thorough stir. Then she picked up the bowl of ice cream and tipped it over the Tarte Tatin. Meanwhile, Adrien sneaked the mildest piece of cheese into her bag.

“Don’t worry, Plagg,” he muttered. “I’m just getting started.” Marinette peeked down into her bag and giggled as she saw Plagg’s excited expression as he devoured the cheese. She turned back to her own dessert and used the side of her fork to capture a section of the ice cream covered pastry.

“I’m returning the favor,” she grinned flirtatiously as she held it up to his mouth. He grinned back and opened his mouth. For the next few minutes, the couple fell into a funny little rhythm of sneaking cheese into Marinette’s bag and feeding each other bites of Tarte Tatin. When the last piece of cheese (Camembert of course) disappeared into her bag, Marinette giggled and leaned toward Adrien’s ear to murmur “Pound it!”

Adrien’s eyes widened as he looked down at her offered fist. He bumped it with his own, struggling not to laugh out loud. He looked up to see a waiter heading over with the bill in a little black folder.. He grabbed his wallet and pulled out the debit card, presenting it to the waiter as he arrived at the table.

“Thank you, sir,” the waiter said, accepting his card and walking away. He returned a few minutes later with a receipt. Adrien added a small tip to the service fee, then scribbled a signature across the bottom before tucking it into the folder and retrieving his card.

“Ready to go?” he asked as he slid out of the banquette seat and pushed the table out a little. Marinette nodded and he offered his hand to help her out from behind the table. She grabbed her bag and got to her feet.

“Thank you for coming, Mr. Agreste and Miss Dupain Cheng. I hope you enjoyed your meal!” Miss Laurent said as they prepared to leave.

“Very much so,” Marinette enthused. “I’ve never seen such a beautifully prepared meal.”

“I’ll pass your compliments to the chef. Enjoy your evening.” They nodded their thanks and headed back to Marinette’s home.


	10. Chapter 10

It was 9pm when they arrived back at the bakery. A light was still on in the back but the doors were locked. Marinette dug out her keys to open the door.

“Hello?” she called as she stepped inside, Adrien following close behind.

“Hello you two!” her father greeted them, coming out of the kitchen. “I was just getting everything ready for tomorrow and I guess I ran a little late. I better get to bed.”

“You weren’t waiting up, were you Papa?” Marinette teased.

“What? No! Of course not!” he exclaimed nervously.

“Tom what are you doing down-” Sabine broke off, surveying the scene. “Ah, I see,” she said mischievously. “Good evening Adrien and Marinette. How was your meal?”

“It was amazing, Maman. I’ll tell you all about it later. I’m going to go get Adrien’s extra clothes for him and if it’s alright with you, we’d like to go up to my room for a while before he has to go home.”

“That’s fine, sweetie,” Sabine nodded. “We’ll talk later. I need to get to bed and so does your Papa,’ she said, giving Tom a look. “4am will be here all too soon, _dear._ ”

Marinette giggled at the sheepish look on her Papa’s face. “Come on, Adrien. Let’s go upstairs,” she said, taking his hand.

A few minutes later, the couple were stepping into Marinette’s room. Adrien put his bag of clothes next to the desk before taking off his shoes and jacket and flopping on the chaise. Marinette took off her wedges and put them back in the closet.

“Do you mind if I change into my pjs?” she asked. “I’d really like to cuddle with you and I don’t want to crush the organza layer of my dress.”

“Go- go ahead!” Adrien said, stuttering a little. The confident way Marinette had announced they were going up to her room after her parents went to bed was still blowing his mind a little.

“Thanks, I’ll be right back,” she promised, smiling and grabbing some clothes. She returned a few minutes later in her Chat Noir romper with her dress draped over her arm. She carefully hung the dress on its hanger and walked over to Adrien. He smiled at her and patted the space in front of him. To his surprise, she moved to sit in front of him but kneeled there facing him instead of sitting back against him as he had expected.

“Hey!” he said looking at her in surprise.

“Hi,” she said back, softly.

“Marinette, whatever it is you’re thinking, you can--”

That was all she needed to hear. She leaned against him and grabbed his face, kissing him passionately. Adrien didn’t even hesitate. He wrapped one arm around her and curved his free hand around the back of her head. He held her tightly to him as she pushed her tongue into his mouth, revelling in how soft and warm she felt against him. He pulled away from her lips and kissed down the side of her neck. He felt her shiver against him as he focused on the spot where her neck met her shoulders.

“Adrien,” she breathed. He stopped and looked into her eyes.

“Too much?” he asked, stroking her hair from her face.

“No, but…” she trailed off. “I just felt like we were about to get carried away. At the restaurant, I knew we needed to be..restrained… so it made me anticipate kissing you more…”

Adrien smiled and held her close. “I felt the same way but you beat me to it,” he said, stroking her back.

“Thank you so much,” she whispered.

“For what, Princess?” he asked curiously.

“For- for everything. You make me feel so special and safe. The fact that you’re Adrien and you’re Chat Noir makes you the most amazing person in the world to me. And… you’re here with me. How lucky could I possibly get?”

Adrien squeezed her tightly. “Oh Marinette,” he said. “You are the sweetest, most beautiful girl and you’re my Ladybug. I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one.” He pulled away and smiled at her shakily.

Marinette smiled softly and touched his cheek. “Maybe we’re both lucky.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of love for this chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Marinette woke up to the sound of her alarm, early Sunday morning. Sighing, she rolled out of bed and went to take a shower and brush her teeth. She quickly got dressed and grabbed her phone before heading down to the bakery.

“Tom, look who has come down early to help again!” Sabine exclaimed with a pleased look on her face. Marinette smiled at her father as he popped his head through the kitchen door. 

“Well hello there, my little Macaron!” He greeted her fondly. “You are just in time to fill some eclairs. What do you say?”

“Of course, Papa!” she exclaimed. Tom smiled and disappeared back inside. Sabine touched her arm before she could join him in the kitchen.

“Sweetheart, are you free this afternoon?” she asked.

“Sure Maman, what do you need?” she replied.

“I’d like to go out with you for coffee somewhere. Your choice! Shall we say 3pm?”  
.  
“Ok, Maman, is something wrong?” Marinette looked concerned.

“Not at all, I’d just like to have a chat, catch up; is that all right?”

“Of course!” She hugged her mother and went to help Papa.

******

At three o’clock, Marinette met Sabine at the till, having spent her day helping with making different kinds of dough and decorating cupcakes as well as filling dozens of eclairs with creme patissiere and dipping them in chocolate glaze.

“Tom, I’m off with Marinette,” she called. He popped through the kitchen door with a basket of bread which he promptly started stacking in the display case.

“All right, ladies, see you later!” he said, going to stand by the till.

“So where are we going?” Sabine asked her daughter.

“There’s this little coffee shop next to the school,” Marinette suggested.

“Wonderful! Lead the way,” Sabine smiled reassuringly.

They walked the short distance to the school then went around the corner. The coffee shop was just across the street.

“I’d forgotten about this little place!” Sabine exclaimed as they went inside.

“Have you ever been here before?” Marinette asked, heading for her favorite table.

“Yes, but not for a long time.” Sabine followed her to the table and sat down. “Isn’t this counter service?”

Marinette shrugged. “Just for to-go orders. It’s too small for everyone to line up with all these tables.” At that moment the waitress came by to take their order. As soon as she had left with their selections, Sabine looked at her daughter and laughed.

“Please stop looking so nervous! Has it really been that long since we had a chat?”

“Like this?” Marinette gestured between the two of them. “Outside of the house? Yes.”

“I guess you’re right,” Sabine sighed. “Well I need to do this more frequently so coffee chats with Maman don’t come with a sense of impending doom.”

Marinette giggled and relaxed. “Ok, ok, sorry… but I have to assume something motivated you to invite me out for coffee.”

“Yes, that is true but there is nothing negative about what motivated me.” Sabine assured her.

Marinette looked at her curiously, “Well, you have my attention now.”

Sabine smiled warmly at her. “I just wanted to talk to you about your relationship with Adrien.”

“Oh,” Marinette suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

“No, please believe me. This is not a lecture or a bunch of new rules. Really, this is just me offering my support and some advice.”

At that moment, the waitress brought their coffees over. Marinette thanked her and took a slow sip of her drink. “So… what kind of advice…” she trailed off and took another drink.

Sabine smiled. “First of all, I just want to say how much both your father and I think of Adrien. It’s very evident that his home life is sad and lonely and yet he is so kind and considerate. To have those qualities and not lose them after all he has been through is remarkable. He treats you with so much respect and evident care that I cannot help but pleased that you two are together. Dating is part of growing up and I think he was worth the wait!”

“Thanks, Maman,” Marinette murmured. She really had not expected her mother to be telling her any of this.

“It is also remarkable to me, how quickly you two have come together, apparently out of the blue. I’ve seen friends suddenly start moving toward a romantic relationship before. However, there is an extra something between you two that I cannot explain and perhaps you can’t either… like there are qualities to each of you that only the two of you can see. Those kinds of bonds are very hard to break when they form.”

“That’s an interesting way to put it, Maman. You’ve put into words something I didn’t know how to explain. Everyone at school knew how obsessed I was but everyone wants to know why everything suddenly came together. How do I say that in a few conversations between the two of us, we realized we were both more than the other assumed.”

“I know that kind of discovery is very exciting. When you add it to all the romantic experiences you can look forward to having: dates, kisses, conversations...intimacy, it is quite a lot and can be overwhelming.”

“Yeah,” sighed Marinette. “Neither of us wants to race through all these first experiences but sometimes our emotions make it difficult to stay.. I don’t know…” she searched for a word that would describe what she meant. “I guess there are a lot of things I’m not ready for and I don’t think he is either. I want those things to be special, not something we did almost by accident.”

“I’m proud of you for recognizing and accepting your own boundaries,” Sabine said warmly. “I think this is where my advice comes in. First of all, consent is only one aspect of trying new things. I can assure you that as embarrassing as it might seem now, discussing the things you want to do before you do them together is actually pretty romantic and believe me, you will treasure the memories of those conversations.”

Marinette blushed as she understood what her mother was telling her. “I can’t believe I’m asking this but what do you mean? How is it a whole discussion?”

Sabine laughed. “First of all, plenty of those discussions will be before sex… Oh Marinette! Stop making that face!”

“Sorry,” mumbled Marinette. She took a deep breath and sipped her coffee. “Does Papa know we are having this conversation?”

Sabine waved her hand vaguely. “Not the specifics. Remember, he too grew up in a controlling household. I know he would be rather uncomfortable with what I’m saying but that doesn’t mean I could refrain from saying anything I have said or will say for his sake. He knows that I’m here to talk to you about ‘growing up things’. He didn’t want any details.” she laughed. “Speaking of your Papa and his difficult home life as a child, I will say that Mr. Agreste would do well to realize that you can control your children for a while. You can limit their perspective. You can thwart their curiosity and their personal ambitions but you cannot control a catalyst for change. Do enough harm to your child’s relationship with you and you should prepare for them to severe it at the first opportunity. When I first met your Papa, I saw what he desired to have and eventually, after much encouragement, he went his own way with me and there was nothing his father could do about it. By giving Adrien a chance to be in a healthy, loving relationship, you may be his catalyst for change and Gabriel Agreste will eventually learn that he cannot control that, though he may try.”

“I am worried about that,” Marinette confessed. “He has always been reclusive but he used to seem more focused and polite at least. I think he is growing more distracted and neglectful and I don’t know why. There is something very strange about his relationship with his assistant as well. I just hope it doesn’t get even worse for Adrien.”

Sabine nodded thoughtfully. “I’m going to have to think about that,” she said, sipping her coffee. “Now back to what I was saying before because I do not want to leave here without telling you about things I think you need to know. First of all, I trust you absolutely to do what is safe and healthy for you both. I’m not going to give you the safety lecture again. I do think you should talk to your doctor and tell her what is happening in your life. If she feels she should prescribe you something or have you undergo any lasting but temporary procedures, I am perfectly happy to support that.”

“R-really?” squeaked Marinette. “Honestly Maman? Do you really think I should go to my doctor already?”

“These things take time to become effective and even then, just because you are protected doesn’t mean you have to do anything,” Sabine shrugged. “It certainly doesn’t do you any harm to be prepared well in advance if that’s the case.”

“O-okay,” Marinette was completely dumbfounded by what she was hearing. “Goodness Maman, we’ve only been together just over a week!”

“I know, I know. I consider this to be one of those most important things about growing into an adult. You are in that funny in-between time moving from childhood to womanhood. This is your body and your heart. You have to respect them and treat them with care. Now take a deep breath my dear because if you are scandalised by what I’ve just said, well…” she chuckled. “The next thing I want to say is that your privacy with Adrien matters to me. If you are in your room with him by yourself, I absolutely do not intend to ‘check up on you’. If I need you for anything, I will knock and I will not open the door right away. You can say you’ll be with me in a moment, you can say you are busy, you can open the door. If I hear absolutely nothing, I will knock again and wait five seconds. At that point, I will peek in to make sure you are all right. Is that fair?

Marinette was looking distinctly shocked. “So the same rules that you have had for me by myself in my room apply when Adrien is with me?”

“Correct,” Sabine affirmed. “Or Alya or any other friends really. You may technically be a child but your relationships are growing and may become part of your adult life. I’m counting on you to treat them with maturity and respect.”

Marinette nodded in understanding. “What were you saying about consent being more than yes or no?”

Sabine brightened. “Ah, yes. Here comes the--what do you kids call it these days--the cringiest part of this conversation.”

Marinette giggled, despite herself. “Well, Maman, I’m feeling pretty warmed up on the scandalising. Go for it!”

“So on the face of it, consent is easy. You ask to do something and you do it if you both want to. But things get complicated. Doing one thing can lead to another and you find yourself getting momentum, trying more things and then having to stop yourself because you think it’s suddenly too much. Does this sound familiar?” Sabine asked with a knowing smile.

“It does,” sighed Marinette with a wry grin.

“Now what I was saying earlier. There is a certain romance to talking about those things even with no intention to act on it right away. Just to let your partner know that you have considered things you want to try together and at what point you would like to stop. So the next time you are being intimate, you can take your time and you both know where the boundaries are. You can keep having those conversations forever and I promise you will look back on the journey very fondly.”

“That sounds… really nice actually. And a lot less frustrating.”

“Oh definitely, I find that discussing these things together is reassuring. You find out what you are each thinking about for ‘someday’ too and that is a good thing as well. I promise that if you talk about these things in a caring manner on a regular basis, you will develop intimacy both emotionally and physically and it will strengthen your relationship in ways you cannot imagine.”

“Thanks Maman,” Marinette said gratefully. “I think I need to get coffee with you more often.”

“I would love that, dear.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I don’t know who shares my sense of humor but when I thought of the first part of this chapter, it made me laugh so I wrote it. I hope you enjoy it!

After dinner, Marinette decided to see if Chat Noir wanted to go on patrol with her. 

“Hey, Tikki,” she called. Her Kwami popped up from behind her monitor, munching on a macaron.

“Hi Marinette! What’s up?”

“I want to message Chat Noir about going on patrol.”

Tiki nodded, “Ready when you are!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

She sent out a message to Chat through her Ladybug messenger and waited for his reply.

Sure! Meet you at the Eiffel Tower in 10 min! CN

I’ll be there! LB

As soon as she finished sending her message, she ran out on the balcony and threw her yoyo out, pulling herself from light post to building as she zipped toward the Eiffel Tower. With the familiar landmark before her, she ascended it quickly, heading for their usual meeting spot. She sat on the ledge and looked out over the skyline, smiling as she remembered the last time she had sat waiting for Chat Noir. It was hard to believe it was just over a week ago. Her thoughts were interrupted by the subtle twangs of metal against metal which indicated Chat Noir was climbing the tower with his baton. He popped his head over the ledge right next to her.

“Good evening, Kitty!” she laughed.

“Why, hello Bugaboo!” he greeted her. “Hope you weren’t waiting long. My father was leaving the house so I had to delay my own departure.”

“Ah, understandable. No worries, I’ve only been here for a few minutes.”

“Would you mind if I led the first part of the patrol?” he asked. “I’ve got something I want to check on.”

“I want to say yes but I am really not sure that I should from that look on your face,” Ladybug said, watching as he tried to subdue a mischievous grin.

“Oh, come on, I just wanna check up on a previous akuma victim,” he said wheedlingly.

“Really?” she asked, looking at him sceptically.

“Absolutely,” he replied, giving her his best kitty eyes.

“Ugh, not the kitty eyes. All right you naughty cat, lead the way.”

“Yessss,” he cheered, launching himself effortlessly away from the platform. Ladybug laughed and followed Chat, wondering what on earth he was planning.

Soon enough, they were in the fashion district and Chat started to slow down. Ladybug slowed to match his pace, looking around and trying to figure out where they were headed. She didn’t have to wait long. He abruptly stopped at a building across from Gabriel. “Chaaaat, what are we doing here?” she asked suspiciously.

“I told you, Akuma victim welfare check!” he said, laughing. “I just want to… brighten his day.”

“Wait, whose day? Oh… oh my gosh,” she saw a familiar car pulling up in front of Gabriel. “Chat!”

She watched as he pushed off the building, landing a few feet from where two people were exiting the car. 

“Mr. Agreste!” he called sauntering over, swinging his tail casually.

Ladybug was glad she was a good distance away because she couldn’t stop the quiet giggle that bubbled up inside her. Knowing it was Adrien under Chat’s mask, she couldn’t imagine how he was staying so composed.

“Um, good evening Chat Noir,” Gabriel said stiffly. “Did you need something?”

“Oh no, nothing like that my dear sir. You may have heard about the new akuma victim welfare check service that Ladybug and I recently adopted. No? Well sir, I’m very sorry we haven’t already checked in with you. A grievous ofursite on our part. My most sincere apawlagies. I do hope you are feline well.”

Ladybug could feel tears of mirth falling down her cheeks as she laughed silently, wheezing with the effort of keeping quiet. But Chat was just getting started.

“Dreadfurly sorry Madam, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced?” Chat said, turning his attention to his father’s assistant.

“Ms. Sancoeur,” she responded with only a shadow more warmth than Adrien’s father.

“Poor Adrien, stuck with these robots,” Ladybug sighed to herself. “I don’t blame Chat in the slightest for this.” She watched as Chat unleashed a brilliant smile on Natalie.

“I’m very purrleased to meet you, Ms. Sancoeur, although I have to say, running into you here during my Sunday evening pawtrol worries me, I’m afuraid. Don’t work too hard you two. Emotions such as exhaustion and frustration are excellent targets for our furiendly neighborhood terrorist, Hawk Moth.

Ladybug watched his little lecture with a grin although she wondered why Gabriel visibly flinched at the end. ‘Chat should record something like this as a PSA,’ she thought to herself, completely charmed by his mischievous delivery.

“Well, er…” Gabriel was stuttering in a very uncharacteristic way down below. “Well… thank you for your concern… Chat Noir.”

“It is my pleasure,” Chat purred the last word emphatically and he capered around them on all fours like an overgrown cat. Gabriel looked completely shocked but Ladybug couldn’t help but notice the corner of Natalie’s mouth raised in the faintest ghost of a smile. Chat noticed as well. “Ah, she smiles. I’ll stop kitten around. My work here is done. Furwell Mr. Agreste sir and Furwell Ms. Sancoeur. Enjoy your evening!” And with that, he took out his baton and rocketed off down the street.

Ladybug watched Gabriel and Natalie look at each other in confusion. 

“What the hell was that?” Gabriel barked at his assistant.

“How would I know?’ she said back, angrily.

Muttering, he stalked into the Gabriel headquarters, Natalie following close behind.

Ladybug felt her communicator buzz a few seconds later. “Oh Chat, what do you have to say for yourself?” she murmured.

Sorry. That was very unpurrfessional of me. -CN

She grinned and messaged back.

I’m sure they deserved it. I think I might love you even more after that -LB

Oh rly? How much more? -CN

Wouldn’t you like to know? -LB

Maybe I’ll stop by later and find out -CN

Purrhaps you will! -LB

Hey cat puns are my gig! -CN

I may have purrloined a few. I didn’t know you were keeping tabby. -LB

Hahahahaha, now maybe I love you even more. -CN

:P I’ll see you later. I’m going home now. -LB

*****

It was several hours later and Marinette had just finished her homework. Her mind had drifted to Adrien several times, wondering what had provoked him into the hilarious confrontation with his father. Sighing, she went to brush her teeth and put on some pajamas. Then she brushed her hair, deciding to do braided pigtails for a change. Finally, she put all her homework in her bag, grabbed her phone and headed up to her bed. Sitting up against her headboard, she opened Instagram and settled back to look at pictures.

*****

Chat Noir landed lightly on Marinette’s balcony and quietly crept up to the trap door. He had not intended to arrive so late but he had stayed home long enough for his father and Natalie to return. He had been sitting at his desk, completing his homework when Natalie had stopped by to say good night. As soon as she closed the door behind her, he quickly changed into his pajamas, transformed and leapt into the night sky, making a beeline for Marinette’s home. Carefully he peered into the trap door window to see if Marinette was already asleep. He smiled when he saw she was still awake, engrossed with something on her phone. She looked so pretty curled up in her duvet wearing a fitted pink tank top with lace straps. Gently, he tapped the window with a knuckle and she looked up and smiled before pushing her blanket away and kneeling up to let him in. He slid smoothly through the doorway and she shut it behind him. He moved away from the window to de-transform. 

“Hello again, Bug,” he said, moving to sit next to her at the head of the bed. “Sorry I’m so late. I wanted to make sure it seemed like I’d never left when Father finally got back home with Natalie.”

“Don’t worry about it!” she smiled warmly. “You did the right thing. Nice pajamas by the way,” she nodded at his soft green t-shirt that matched the color of his eyes and black shorts.

“Yours are cuter,” he replied, grinning appreciatively. He could now see she was wearing coordinating pink print shorts and he was pretty sure he had never seen so much of her skin at once. He noticed as well the way her braided pigtails fell forward so he could see her smooth, toned shoulders.

“So apart from trolling your father, how was the rest of your day?” Marinette asked, suddenly feeling a bit shy from how intently he was looking at her.

“Sorry Marinette,” he said smiling sheepishly. “I got a bit distracted by how pretty your shoulders are. I-I didn’t mean to stare.”

Marinette smiled and leaned into his side and he instinctively drew his arm up and around her shoulders. “It’s ok. I get a little shy when you look at me like that but I’m glad you like what you see.” She looked up at him slyly. “But did you hear my question?”

“Yeah,” Adrien laughed. “You aren’t mad about my patrol mission are you?”

“Not at all,” she assured him. “It’s funny. I probably would have been annoyed if I didn’t know who you actually were. Knowing you on both sides of the mask has given me a fuller look at your home life and frankly your father needs to lighten up. Virtually anyone else would have been delighted with the attention you showed him. It was hilarious… and very charming.”

Adrien blushed. “Well, I’m glad you thought so.”

“So,” Marinette said. “Was this performance just because you spotted an opportunity as you were heading out or is there more to it than that?”

Adrien smiled at his girlfriend’s perceptive question. “There you go milady, going straight to the heart of the matter. To be honest, today hasn’t been any different than any other Sunday. I slept in, played games online with Nino since Father wouldn’t let me actually go to his house. Natalie came in while I was playing games and said I needed to find a more constructive use of my time. I said I’d much rather go hang out with my friends somewhere than play video games. She called my father on her tablet and even though he was clearly in his office, he wouIdn’t come see me. He just said I had already had enough time with my friends this week and I should focus on improving a skill. I ate by myself. I took a shower. Then Plagg said you messaged me…” he paused, seeing Marinette’s horrified face. “I’m sorry. That was a lot.”

“That was the truth,” Marinette said softly. “While I was out having a nice chat with my Maman in a coffee shop, that is what was happening to you,” her eyes filled with tears. “And I’m guessing it happens a lot, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” Adrien sighed. “If he’s home, he expects me to be home.”

“What really breaks my heart is that you saw him leaving the house and your idea was to try and make him laugh or smile not yell or fight or cataclysm his car or something. Your father does not deserve your kind, gentle heart.” Marinette concluded.

The reassurance of her sweet words filled him with warmth and love for her. He looked at her face and saw the tears still brimming in her eyes. “Hey it’s ok. I’m ok,” he told her.

“I don’t know how you possibly can be,” she said in a choked voice.

“When I became Chat Noir, it helped. When I fell in love with Ladybug, it helped too and when I learned she was you… well that has helped me most of all. I can see how my life can be better and different someday and it gives me hope.”

Marinette remembered what her Maman had said about catalysts for change. She looked up at him and smiled. “I love you,” she said simply.

“I love you too,” he responded and leaned over to kiss her softly, his hands stroking down her arms and back up to her shoulders. He broke off and pulled her into his lap. “I probably should go,” he murmured in her ear, reluctantly.

“Ok,” she murmured back as he stroked her bare legs.

“Mmmmm, your skin is so soft and you smell so good,” he buried his face in her hair, making her giggle.

“Kitty,” she said admonishingly.

“Yeah, you’re right. Plagg! Claws out!”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.” - Picasso
> 
> Words of encouragement for anyone writing fanfic!

“Marinette… Marinette…. Marinette!”

“What Tikki?!” Marinette popped up in alarm.

“It’s Monday?” Tikki said.

Marinette glanced at her phone and squeaked. “Ten minutes? I have to be at school in ten minutes?” She went down the ladder as fast as she could and raced to the bathroom to quickly wash her face and brush her teeth. She pulled her hair up in a messy bun as she sped back to her room. She pulled on some gray skinny jeans and a black sweatshirt with green paw prints trailing across it. She grabbed a pair of black oxfords, shoved them on her feet and picked up her backpack. Tikki zipped into her purse as she slung it over her shoulder and flung open the trap door. She went as quickly as she safely could down to the bakery.

“Bye Maman, Bye Papa!” she yelled as she grabbed the croissant her mother offered her as she went past and crammed it into her mouth.

Luckily the lights went her way and she was opening the door to the classroom as the bell rang. She looked up and grinned at Adrien. He grinned back and winked as she walked to her seat right behind his.

“Well class, since we’re all here, let’s begin!” Miss Bustier said.

The morning went by slowly as Marinette tried to focus on her work. Sunday had given her a lot to think about between her conversation with her mother, the unusual patrol session and her late night talk with Adrien. She huffed a big sigh of relief when the bell for lunch rang. 

“Hey Princess!” Adrien exclaimed, jogging over to her. “Any plans for lunch?”

Marinette lit up. “Does this mean you can join me?”

Adrien smiled happily. “Yep! Are you going home?”

“Yeah, I’ll ask Maman if we can have lunch on the balcony.”

“Wow,That sounds great. Although, I’ll probably be tempted not to come back!”

“I know what you mean,” Marinette sighed. “I’m hoping spending time with you will help clear my head.”

“Same… although our conversation last night helped me a lot in that regard,” he said, kissing her cheek affectionately.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Marinette replied. “Shall we head over to my house?” She offered her hand to him and he took it, smiling brightly.

“Hello Marinette, Hello Adrien,” Sabine greeted them as they walked into the bakery hand in hand. “Did you make it to school on time, dear?”

“Barely,” laughed Marinette. “Can I take our lunch up to the balcony?”

“Of course. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Sabine said, smiling at them. “Help yourself to anything you want from the bakery.”

“Thanks, Maman,” Marinette replied, grabbing a baguette and a few macarons. “All right, let's go up to the kitchen and find the rest of our lunch,” she grinned at Adrien.

After grabbing two bottles of Orangina, some Brie, grapes and prosciutto, she put everything on a tray.

“Let me carry that for you!” Adrien exclaimed, carefully taking the tray from her.

“That’s a good idea, Marinette laughed. “I’ll walk in front and open doors.”

Eventually they were both up on the sunny balcony. Marinette fetched a picnic blanket and smoothed it out while Adrien grabbed two cushions to sit on.

“This is amazing,” Adrien said, slicing a piece of bread and stacking it with cheese and meat. “Hey Plagg! Want some Brie?”

“Sure, why not?” Plagg said. “I have a little bit of room in my heart for Brie. It’s no Camembert of course but it’s still pretty delicious.”

“Tikki, I have a macaron for you as well!” Marinette said.

“Thanks Marinette!” the kwami exclaimed, taking the macaron and floating over to Plagg. “After we eat, why don’t we leave these two to talk?”

“Sure, talk,” Plagg said, rolling his eyes. “I definitely don’t want to be in the audience for their talk.”

“Now, now, Plagg. You’re as happy as I am that our chosen are together. Why don’t you just admit it?”

“Of course I’m happy. The lovey dovey daydreaming beats the hell out of the tragic pining. Especially since I can leave the room for talking.”

“Aw, Plagg. I didn’t know you cared!” Adrien teased him.

Tikki laughed. “Come on Plagg, let’s go!”

“Ok, Sugarcube. I’m going I’m going.”

The teens watched as their Kwami phased through the trap door.

“So, I’m afraid I monopolised our conversation a bit last night,” Adrien said apologetically. “I know you mentioned you went out for coffee with your Maman. Do you do that often?”

“Not as much as I should,” Marinette confessed. “It was really nice. I was freaking out when she said she wanted to have a talk but it was good. Definitely a bit embarrassing at points but good.”

“Embarrassing?” he looked curiously at her.

“Take a wild guess at the main reason she wanted to chat,” Marinette said with a grin.

“Uuuuuh...oh,” he grimaced. “You’re awfully brave suggesting we have lunch up here alone after that.”

“Ah, you would think so, wouldn’t you?” her eyes twinkled.

“I’m not sure I’m following… not that my father talks to me about anything but I’m familiar to the general gist of those conversations thanks to Nino. If we are up here too long am I going to be banned from the premises?” he took a sip of his drink as he looked at her apprehensively.

“You banned? Never! One of many things I learned in my conversation is that Maman is a big fan. Of you.” she winked at him as he spluttered in surprise and nearly spit out his drink.

“Sorry. I.. what?”

“My Maman thinks you’re great. Which, duh.”

“Your Maman took you out for coffee to tell you… that?” Adrien blushed.

“Oh, there was a lot more to the conversation than that. A lot of good advice and things I want to talk to you about when we have more time.”

“Ok, should I be worried?” he asked.

“Definitely not! I’m nervous to talk to you about… well… what she talked to me about but I’m excited too.”

“O-kay, well I’m completely perplexed.”

“Hmmm,” Marinette thought for a moment. “I guess the main thing I’ll say for now is she told me that when it comes to what we are both comfortable doing with each other, consent is not just a question… It’s a discussion. And… It's a discussion we keep having over time. Basically, so in the heat of the moment we already know what we’re both comfortable with.”

“That is really amazing advice,” Adrien said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, once I got over the mortification, I felt the same,” Marinette giggled. “The other thing she said is that whether I’m up here or in my room by myself or with you or with another friend, my privacy stays the same. My Maman has always had a rule that if she needs me for something or wants to talk, she knocks. I can answer the door. I can say I’m busy and come back later. I can say I’ll be there in a moment. If I don’t respond, she knocks again, waits five seconds and opens the door to see if I’m ok. And just so you know.. I told her a long time ago that if an akuma attacks, I find somewhere to meditate because it scares me so much. I told her that if I was home, that’s what I would be doing until the akuma is captured and she should leave me alone unless it was actually taking over the bakery. So far that has worked.”

“I’ve always wondered how on earth you get away during an akuma attack,” Adrien said. “But getting back to what your Maman said yesterday, did she really say that you still have the same amount of privacy when I’m here with you?” 

Marinette nodded. “She trusts me and she trusts you.”

Adrien sat back, looking stunned. “I’m not even sure what to say but I’m so honored that she trusts me with you. I would never want to be unworthy of something like that.”

Marinette smiled and touched his face. “You’ve spent years showing me how worthy you are of that trust.”

Adrien couldn’t help but grin. “Pretty sure she doesn’t know about that,” he said leaning toward her.

“True,” Marinette agreed, still stroking his face. She locked eyes with him and gave him a little half-smile before tilting her chin up and brushing her lips against his. He leaned into her more and kissed her mouth firmly, then reluctantly pulled away.

“I have a feeling it’s nearly time to go back to school,” he sighed.

Marinette pulled her phone out. “Yeah, we need to get going,” she said regretfully.

“Still, this has been the nicest lunch break ever,” Adrien said. “I hope we can do this again soon.”

“That can definitely be arranged, Marinette assured him as she gathered everything and put it back on the tray. Adrien grabbed the cushions and put them back in the storage chest. As he was shutting the lid, Plagg and Tikki zipped up.

“We just received an akuma alert,” Tikki told them.

“Well milady, looks like we can spend more time together after all, and it’s all thanks to Hawk Moth!”

“That’s the spirit, kid. Ready to kick some ass?” Plagg cackled, spinning excitedly in the air.

“Just let me put on my ass-kicking boots!” Adrien laughed.

“Before we do any ass-kicking, give me a second,” Marinette said before opening the hatch door and rushing into her room. She opened the trap door and shouted down the stairs, “Maman, there’s another akuma. We’re going to stay in my room until it’s safe to go back to school.”

“Good idea, sweetie. I think it might be nearby. I’m going to lock the main doors.” Sabine shouted back. 

Marinette locked the trap door and raced back to the balcony. “I see you put on your ass-kicking boots without me!” she pouted as Chat Noir greeted her. “I was telling Maman we are going to stay in my room until the coast is clear.”

“You think of everything milady,” Chat grinned. 

“While I am still thinking about everything, I don’t want it to look like we came from the same place. Run to the top of the building and lever away as far as possible so it seems like you were en route from somewhere else. Do we know where the akuma is?” she asked Tikki.

“At your school again,” Tikki sighed.

“Ugh, I wonder what it is this time,” Marinette grimaced. “Still, that has its advantages. We are so close it will just seem like no one noticed you until you arrived at the scene. I want you to get a head start and scope out what is happening. I’m going to take a little detour and approach from the back of the building.”

Chat nodded and stealthily leapt to the top of the bakery. He extended the baton to an extreme length and launched himself almost all the way to the school. 

“It’s a good thing he is so good at physics,” she said to Tikki. The Kwami nodded and smiled. Marinette crouched down low beside the wall “I guess we better get going, huh? Tikki, spots on!”

Once Marinette was transformed, she threw her yoyo to a light post in a relatively quiet street. She peeked out and having quickly surveyed the area, she swung out around the light post and launched herself to another building further down the road. She changed direction when she reached the building and headed back for the school, landing on the roof at the rear of the building. Peering into the courtyard, she saw the akuma. It looked like a charcoal Picasso portrait come to life. Spotting Chat covertly circling the akuma, she anchored her yoyo on a nearby support pillar and landed gracefully next to him.

“Hey Kitty,” she murmured. “What’s the story with this akuma?”

“It’s the art teacher,” he whispered back. “Apparently he got a bad review on some artwork he had on exhibition. Some critic singled his piece out and called him a wannabe Picasso hack. Personally, I think he makes a very cool looking akuma. I’ve seen this portrait before and his 3-D interpretation is pretty sweet.”

Ladybug laughed. “I’m sure Alya is recording his creative vision for posterity. Do you know where the butterfly is?”

They were interrupted as the akuma launched an attack. Quickly Chat yanked a vending machine off the wall and threw it in front of them as cover. The akuma aimed a piece of charcoal at it and it was transformed to a black and white abstracted version of itself.

“You’re not going to paint me into a corner, Protege!” Chat yelled as he raced off to the other side of the courtyard.

“Who said anything about paint?” the akuma snarled as he fired his charcoal at him. Chat was too quick but several tables turned into black and white artwork and several patches of ground took on a subtle sketched appearance. “It’ll be surreal pleasure to make you my masterpiece!

“I’m sure you’d do me justice. Clearly you’ve been studying Picasso for awhile. You’re a self-portrait of his after all, aren’t you? However, I’m afuraid I cat stick around to admire your work.

“Well Chat, who knew? You’re a real renaissance man aren’t you?” Ladybug called out as she attempted to lasso the charcoal out of Protege’s hand.

“Renaissance Cat,” he corrected. “And thank you milady! I’m more than just flashy good looks you know,” he batted his eyes at her and then went quiet as he started to sneak up behind the akuma.

“Flashy good looks!” she scoffed, drawing the akuma’s attention toward her as Chat edged closer and closer. “Always so cocky!” She saw the akuma raise his charcoal toward her and started twirling her yoyo just in time to deflect it.

Chat muttered his power-up quietly and leapt at the charcoal as the akuma fired at Ladybug. His claw caught the charcoal, crumbling it to dust, releasing a purple butterfly. The akuma crumpled to the ground as Ladybug caught and purified the butterfly. She quickly called her lucky charm and received a small ladybug doll with a cord in its back.

“What on earth, Tikki?” she muttered as she pulled the cord.

“Pound it!” A cheerful dolly voice called out. Both Ladybug and Chat Noir laughed.

“First time I’ve been congratulated by a lucky charm!” Chat grinned as Ladybug threw it into the air shouting, “Miraculous Ladybug!” Chat sauntered over to the teacher to make sure he was all right.

“Hello Sir, I probably shouldn’t be saying this but your akuma was really purrretty to look at. I wouldn’t take any critics' words too seriously. You create art because that is what you need to do. Some people will appreciate it, some won’t. The ones who like your feline work will always look forward to more so let that be your motivation!”

“Thanks Chat Noir,” the man said, smiling in appreciation.

“It’s my pawleasure,” he bowed and walked over to Ladybug. “See you on the balcony?” he whispered in her ear. She nodded and held out her fist. He grinned and bumped it with his own.

“Pound it!” they chorused before departing in separate directions.

Ladybug swung off on a brief detour before stealthily returning home. Daytime akumas were always the most difficult to sneak back to wherever she started, especially if she had been home before the attack. Eventually she landed on the empty balcony and crouched low in front of the trap door. Adrien opened the hatch quietly and let her in.

“Hey bug,” he greeted her as she de-transformed, wrapping his arms around her as she returned to her civilian identity and pulling her down on the bed with him. He landed on his back with her on top of him.

“Chaat,” she whined, trying to squirm away. “We need to go back to class!”

“Ahhh, but we don’t actually!” he grinned widely, squeezing her even tighter. “By the time we cleared everything up, there was only 45 minutes left and the art teacher apparently started freaking out right after we left. They decided to cancel the rest of the day. I told Gorilla to pick me up here instead. I have about half an hour before he gets here.”

“How did you find all that out?” she asked.

“I brought our tray back down to the kitchen. Your Maman was there and she told me Mr Damocles had just stopped in for pastries when they reopened. I guess he told her he was on his way home or something.” He grinned mischievously. “Now do I get a kiss for being so helpful?”

“I suppose so,” she murmured. “But I’m kind of stuck.” She squirmed again. He loosened his arms and she rolled off him.

“Hey!” he protested. “Come back!”

“Silly Kitty,” she cooed. “Come here!”

He sat up and scooted over to her. “Was that too much?” 

“Maybe a little,” she replied shyly.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s ok. I love feeling close to you but I’m not ready to kiss you when you’re...holding me like that.”

Adrien thought about what she said and shivered. “Yeah, I see what you mean. I didn’t really think that through.”

Marinette giggled, “Yes, file that one under ‘someday’,” she said playfully. “But for right now…” she leaned forward and brushed her lips against his.He reached out and pulled her into his lap. “Chat,” she whispered against his lips. Hearing her call him by his alternate identity was too much for him and any grasp he might have had on his composure instantly evaporated. He covered her mouth with his own and quickly thrust his tongue against hers. He felt her hands slide up his neck and into his hair and he shuddered at the sensation. He felt her shift and he let his arms fall from where they had been curved around her. He opened his eyes long enough to see she was kneeling in front of him with her legs on either side of his own. He reached out to grab the sides of her waist, pulling her against him and closing his eyes again. They kissed each other hungrily until they were forced to break apart, gasping for air.

“Wow…” Adrien managed, his heart racing.

“Definitely, wow,” Marinette agreed, weakly. “I got so caught up in that, I think I was holding my breath.”

“Yeah, me too,” admitted Adrien.

They sat in silence, still trying to catch their breath. Marinette crawled over to sit next to him and leaned into his side and he curved an arm around her shoulders. It was amazing to him how sweet and familiar this maneuver was becoming to him. He turned to study her face. Her lips were slightly swollen and her expression was dreamy. 

“Hey,” he murmured and she looked up at him and smiled. He reached out to trace her jaw. “I love you.”

Marinette melted at his heartfelt tone. “I love you too,” she said, her eyes never leaving his.


	14. Chapter 14

Marinette felt listless and distracted after Adrien left. She pulled out her homework and finished it quickly since she had only been to half her classes. It was still nearly two hours until dinner. She decided to text Alya.

Marinette: Hey! Sorry it’s been awhile. Want to come over?  
Alya: Haha, you’re forgiven. I’d love to come over!  
Marinette: Yay! I’ll go wait in the bakery for you.  
Alya: Be right there!

“Hello dear,” Sabine greeted Marinette as she entered the bakery. “It’s been a strange day, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I invited Alya over for an hour. Sorry, I should have asked. I just really wanted to talk to a friend.”

“That’s ok, sweetie. You’ve seemed very distracted since Adrien left. Is everything all right?”

“Everything is wonderful. It’s just…” she trailed off. “I didn’t want him to leave but I felt like at the same time, I was feeling overwhelmed. It’s a strange combination of feelings. I want him here but I think we both need to do our own things or we’re in danger of getting wrapped up in each other.”

Sabine nodded, “It sounds like you are figuring it out already. Talking to Alya will do you both good. I’m sure she wants the gossip, especially when she knows it’s going to be good!” She winked at Marinette who blushed and looked at the floor.

“Gosh, you’re right. She’s gonna want the ‘deets’ as she says,” Marinette looked apprehensive.

Sabine laughed. “Hey look who’s here! Hello Alya! Do you girls want coffee?”

“Sure, Sabine,” Alya exclaimed. “Hey Marinette, I don’t have long but I wasn’t going to turn down an invitation to hang out. I have so many _questions._ ”

“I was afraid of that,” Marinette grumbled, but she couldn’t hide her smile.

“Here you are, Alya,” Sabine said, handing Alya her coffee. “And here’s one for you, Marinette.”

“Thanks Sabine,” Alya replied.

“Thanks Maman, we’ll be up in my room,” Marinette told her.

So girl,” Alya said as soon as they were sitting on the chaise in Marinette’s room. “I’ve been patiently waiting for you to fall out of your Adrien cloud and give me the tea. So tell me, what the hell is going on?

Marinette laughed self-consciously. “I feel like my life has been flipped upside down in the best possible way.”

“Have you been on more dates since we all went to the movie?”

“Yeah, Adrien took me to this really fancy restaurant on Saturday. My Maman took this photo before we left.” She picked up her phone and opened her text conversation from her mother. She tapped on the photo and showed it to Alya.

“Wow girl, you guys look beautiful together!” Alya exclaimed. “Damn, I forget Agreste is a model since I see him in Sunshine Boy Next Door Mode every day.”

“He came straight over from a shoot and the stylist let him keep the outfit for the night… and he did look absolutely gorgeous.” Marinette sighed dreamily.

Alya grinned. “I’d say from his expression that he was feeling the same about you. So tell me, did you stay for dessert or did you save that for later?”

“Alya!” Marinette exclaimed in a scandalised voice, then her eyes twinkled merrily. “You know I’m a baker’s daughter. There’s always room for more dessert!”  
Alya’s jaw dropped in surprise and Marinette started to laugh. Soon both girls were giggling hysterically.

“Oh girl,” Alya said, wiping her eyes. “So what did you do, sneak him in late at night?”

“Nah,” Marinette scoffed. “We went through the front door. Papa was waiting up although he wouldn’t admit it. Maman came downstairs to see what was going on. I said we were going to grab his extra clothes and then go up to my room for a bit if that was all right.”

“And they were cool with that?” Alya asked disbelievingly.

“Well, I’m not sure about Papa but Maman kind of took over.”

“So she was cool with that?”

“Yep, we ended up having a chat about it the next day,” Marinette said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Hold up, what exactly did you chat about? I want the deets! Deets, deets, deets”

Marinette rolled her eyes as Alya continued to chant “Deets” over and over. “Oh, ok. It was kind of a long conversation and we have about twenty minutes.”

“Well start talking girl!” Alya stared at her avidly.

“I’ll start by telling you what I told her. We’ve only been together for a week. We haven’t done that much. That said, she wanted to talk about the future of the relationship and she felt that um, intimacy was just something that would happen at whatever pace we chose to take. She actually gave me a lot of good advice for making sure we stayed on the same page.”

“Intriguing,” Alya raised an eyebrow. “I would not have expected this from Sabine. It’s always the quiet ones I guess.”

Marinette laughed. “I haven’t even gotten to the most mind-bending part. So… when I was 13 or so, my Maman made these rules about my privacy in my room…” Once again she explained the system of knocking and answering that her mother had arranged between them. “...and if I don’t answer at all, she knocks again and counts to 5. If she still doesn’t hear anything, she peeks in to make sure I’m ok.” she finished.

“Interesting, so what if you say you’re busy and she says she needs you right away?”

“I stop what I’m doing and I say I’ll be right out,” grinned Marinette. “So you know her rules for me but she told me those rules apply if I’m here with anyone, including Adrien.” Marinette watched Alya’s expression as that sunk in.

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed. “I want Sabine to adopt me! So, have you told Adrien about this yet?”

“Yeah, he looked even more amazed than you just did.” Marinette laughed.

“I’ll bet!” Alya winked at her suggestively.

Marinette groaned in embarrassment and both girls started laughing hysterically again.

“I better get going,” Alya said when they calmed down. “This was fun. Thanks for inviting me over!”

“We’ll do this again soon,” Marinette promised, giving her a hug.

*****

As Marinette and Alya were chatting, Adrien was getting out of the car following a fencing session and heading to his room. He had already finished his homework during breaks at his lesson and his mind was completely overwhelmed thinking about Marinette.

“My brain feels like it's going to explode,” he groaned as he shut the door behind him.

“This week has been a lot, hasn’t it kid?” Plagg said, floating over to his cheese stash. “Very entertaining though. When she called you Chat today, whew!” he cracked up, cackling hysterically.

“Wait a minute, you were watching?” Adrien slumped down at his desk and put his head in his hands.

“Tikki made me,” Plagg replied smoothly. “She loves that kissy kissy shit. And I guess I can see its uses… like making fun of you… it’s a whole new world of possibilities.”

“I can’t believe this. Marinette’s parents are giving me free license to hang out unsupervised with my girlfriend but I still have you two as an audience.” Adrien’s expression was extremely frustrated.

“Hey, most of the time we go find something else to do. But if you two get our attention, well…” Plagg held up his tiny paws in mock helplessness. “If it’s any consolation, you’re doing great kid. Being respectful, communicating-- all good stuff. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go bury myself in cheese for a while.” He sank into his pile of cheese until he was out of sight.

Adrien sighed. He was not entirely sure his conversation with Plagg had done anything to help his mood. He decided to call Nino.

“Hey bro, What’s up?” Nino answered.

“Just got home from fencing and nobody seems to be home. I don’t dare leave so I thought I’d give you a call.”

“Ah, that’s cool dude. It’s been a super weird day what with the akuma at school during lunchtime. You were at Marinette’s weren’t you?” Nino asked.

“Yeah, we were having lunch on her balcony. Then the akuma happened so I just stayed there until Gorilla came by to pick me up.” Adrien spun around in his chair, idly.

“So, how are things going with you and Marinette? Spent any more time in bed lately?”  
Adrien laughed. “Maybe, although not in the way you’re insinuating, Nino.”

“Ah, I’m just teasing you bro. Apart from that, how’s everything going between you two?

“It’s been really good. Really, I am just trying not to mess anything up.”

“Dude, I don’t think there is much risk of that. Alya’s told me about a zillion little stories about stuff Marinette’s secretly done for you over the years. Prior to you getting together, I wouldn’t have dared spill cuz Alya would have catapulted me into the sun or something.” Nino chuckled wryly.

“What sort of things?” Adrien asked curiously.

“She made you a beret for your 5th name day for one. But she chickened out and didn’t give it to you.”

‘ _But I did get a beret for my 5th name day_ ,” Adrien thought to himself. Suddenly he remembered the frazzled conversation with Ladybug that day. She had seemed very worried and distracted.  
“Huh, I had no idea!” he exclaimed out loud. “I’ll have to ask her about that!”

“Just make sure she doesn’t tell Alya I told you!” Nino cautioned.

“I’ll delay your trip to the sun for now,” Adrien promised with a laugh.

“Hey I gotta go dude. Maybe after dinner we can play some Fortnite.”

“Sounds great! Talk to you later!” Adrien said.

“Bye”

Adrien put down his phone and got up to look out in the hallway. The house was still completely silent. “Hmmm,” he hummed out loud, perplexed. He had expected someone to check up on him at some point but it didn’t seem like anyone was around. He went back to his room and texted Natalie.

Adrien: Are there plans for dinner?

Natalie: I’m terribly sorry Adrien. We are at the studio and we lost track of time. You can ask the chef to prepare something. We’ll be late.

Adrien: Ok, thanks

Sighing, Adrien went to the kitchen. If he had known this was how his evening would end up, he would have made plans for dinner instead of sitting here eating by himself. Grumpily, he left a note for the chef, asking him to bring a plate to his room. He decided to text the chef just to make sure he was actually in the house. Then he went back to his bedroom and opened up Marinette’s text window to send her a message.

Adrien: Hey there. Just wanted u 2 know I’m thinking about u.

He put his phone down. Nino’s revelation about the beret made him very uneasy and he wasn’t sure why. He was craving some reassurance from Marinette. There was a knock on his bedroom door. It was the chef with a plate of cold chicken on a salad. Disconsolately, he sat back down at his desk and started eating his salad. He picked up his phone and found the picture the Maitre’ D had taken of him and Marinette. His eyes softened as he saved the picture as his wallpaper. Feeling a little better, he finished the salad and left the plate on the little table outside his room. Then he went to turn on his console and wait for Nino to come online.

He was loading up his game when he heard a tap on his window. Surprised, he looked up and saw Ladybug crouching in the corner. He hurried over to open the window and she hopped inside.

“To what do I owe this purrrleasure?” he exclaimed delightedly.

Ladybug smiled up at him but he could see the concern in her eyes.

“I don’t know, I just felt like your text was saying more than it actually said. Does that make sense?”

“It does,” Adrien said. “Thank you for coming over.”

“Can I de-transform?” she asked.

“Of course!” he exclaimed, standing back.

“Tikki, spots off!” she said and pink light surrounded her. As soon as the light vanished, Tikki zoomed off to find Plagg.

“Marinette,” Adrien gasped.

Marinette smiled shyly. She had chosen some new pjs before transforming. She was wearing a pale pink top with a ruffled hem and some short shorts that were also ruffled at the hem.

“You look so cute!” Adrien said, smiling widely. “Come sit with me on the couch. I was about to play Fortnite with Nino.”

“Ok,” Marinette said, snuggling up to him. “So what’s wrong?”

“Oh,” Adrien replied. “I was talking to Nino and he was saying how you did lots of nice things for me in secret and he mentioned a beret that you made but didn’t give me on my 5th name day. Then I remembered that I did get a beret and you delivered it as Ladybug. You told me you were delivering it from a fan club in Brazil? I was really excited to see you and kind of confused. When I think back about it, you looked preoccupied, like you were just hoping you’d resolved something.”

“Y-yeah, I did make that beret for you,” Marinette said quietly. Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes. “Remember our conversation on the tower where we decided to reveal our identities?”

“I’ll never forget it,” he said quietly.

“When you saw me… I had just fought the future you and purified the akuma. You walked in just after I threw the miraculous and repaired the timeline,” Marinette explained quietly. She took a few calming breaths. “I had put my name on the gift and I guess you figured out I was Ladybug somehow? I don’t know how long it took for everything to go wrong. I wasn’t sure afterwards if we’d ever reveal ourselves.”

“Plagg told me that the best way to avoid that was to keep communication open between us. I promise I’ll be so careful with both our identities,” he said earnestly.

Marinette sniffled. “I know. I think we’re both more grown up and careful now. It’s just realizing that it was _you_ I found all alone made me really sad. Not that I wasn’t really upset about Chat just on his own but… the additional context…” she closed her eyes and a few tears fell down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry you had to experience that,” Adrien said, pulling her into his lap and hugging her close. “It’s strange to me that I have no idea what you experienced.”

“I’m glad you don’t,” Marinette said. “I would never want you to.”

He kissed her cheek. “I love you, Marinette.”

“I love you too,” she said, resting her head on his chest.

“Nino just came online. I was going to play some Fortnite with him. I can make my apologies if you want to talk.”

“No, no.. go ahead and play. I’ll just sit here with you and watch for a little while. I have to head back soon anyway.”

He gave her a little squeeze and kissed the top of her head. He grabbed his headset from where it was resting on the side of the couch and put it on. “Hey Nino!” he said as he joined him in the game.

Marinette sat quietly listening to Nino and Adrien laughing and joking with each other. She wasn’t familiar with the game but she was really enjoying his arms curved around her and the feeling of kisses on the top of her head from time to time.

Meanwhile all of Adrien’s restlessness had faded away. He felt entirely content with the warmth of Marinette in his lap and the sweet scent of her hair. Her occasional giggles at his and Nino’s antics in the game made him feel little bursts of love for her. Eventually Nino said he had to sign off and they said their goodbyes.

“I suppose I should get going,” Marinette said, getting up. “Tikki?” she called.

Tikki popped up and zipped over. Marinette reached into her bag and pulled out a sugar cookie. 

“Thanks Marinette,” Tikki said as she took the cookie and started munching on it.

“Hey…” Adrien said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Can I… come with?”

Marinette looked very surprised. “To… my house?”

Adrien looked down. “Yeah, I just… don’t want to be home by myself…” he looked down self consciously.

“Is no one home?” she asked, incredulously.

“Well, Gorilla is in his quarters but that’s it.”

“Yes,” she said suddenly. “Yes you can come with me. Set an early alarm so you can get back here on time.”

“Ok,,” he smiled shyly, a hand going to the back of his neck.

Marinette recognized that familiar gesture and her heart went out to him. She touched a hand lightly to his chest. “You don’t deserve to be this lonely.”

“Thanks, Bug,” he said after a moment. “I need to get ready for bed before I go.”

“I’m going to transform and head home. I’ll wait on the balcony for you,” Marinette told him.

“Ok, I won’t keep you waiting long milady.”

She smiled warmly. “See you in a few, Kitty. Tikki, spots on!”

He watched as she peeked out the window and then jumped out, disappearing into the night.

******

Ladybug had only been waiting on the balcony for a few minutes when Chat Noir leapt over to join her. Quietly, she opened the hatch door and crept inside, Chat Noir following close behind. They both de-transformed and Marinette climbed into bed.

“Come here,” she said softly, patting the space next to her. He smiled and climbed into bed with her. He quickly set an alarm on his phone, spooned up behind her and pulled the covers over both of them. Within moments, they were both asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning, Marinette woke to the sound of her alarm. Sunlight was pouring onto her bed and she felt confused for a moment. She blearily looked around and saw a note on the pillow next to her. 

_Thank you for letting me stay with you. I haven’t slept so well in a long time. Love you, Adrien_

She smiled, remembering him snuggling against her. She had slept so well that his alarm hadn’t even woken her up. Stretching, she got out of bed and started getting ready for school.

*****

The rest of the day passed in a blur. All of the teachers seemed keen to make up for the short day before and Marinette ended up with homework in every subject. Adrien was away at lunch for a photo shoot and disappeared straight after school for a piano lesson.Since all of her classmates had just as much homework, everyone was in a rush to get home. Sighing, Marinette hoisted her heavy bag up and trudged back to the bakery.

“Hey Maman,” she greeted her mother wearily. “I have so much homework. I’m just going to go straight up and get started.’

“Ok dear, do you want some coffee?”

She nodded. “That would be great, thanks Maman.”

Marinette worked steadily until she was called down for dinner. She trudged downstairs feeling a bit groggy from sitting still for so long.

“How’s the homework my little macaron?” her Papa greeted her as she sat down.

“Still have one more subject to go,” she sighed. “At least I’ll be able to finish tonight. I was starting to wonder if that was even possible.”

“I guess the teachers were making up for yesterday,” Sabine commented.

“Yeah, hopefully tomorrow will be better.” 

After dinner, Marinette helped clean up before going back to her work. After another hour of work, she was finally done and allowed herself a break to check her messages.

Alya: I just finished the homework. WTF teachers!  
Marinette: I know. I just finished too. Now I just wanna sleeeeep.  
Alya: Tell me about it, girl. Tomorrow better be easy.

Adrien: No one here again. I just finished all this stupid homework. Can I come over again?  
Marinette: Definitely <3

Smiling, Marinette put on an oversized purple nightshirt and some black capri leggings then went off to brush her teeth and wash her face. She braided her hair and then went back to her room and climbed up to her bed. She opened the hatch and looked out on the balcony. Chat hopped off the ground. 

“Hey Princess!” he greeted her, climbing inside.

“I hope you weren’t waiting long. I got ready as quickly as I could!”

“Nah, I’m just happy to see you,” he assured her, then de-transformed. “I probably shouldn’t get into the habit of this but I’ve barely seen you today and I’ve been feeling really lonely.”

“I’m glad you came,” she said as she climbed into bed. 

He snuggled up behind her and kissed the back of her neck. “Good night Bug.”

“Good night Kitty”


	16. Chapter 16

The rest of the week fortunately featured less homework but Marinette was still not seeing much of Adrien during the day. However, every night he was texting to come over and she had no inclination to deny either of them precious time together, even if it was while they were sound asleep.

By Friday, Marinette was both looking forward to the weekend and dreading the possibility that she wouldn't see Adrien anyway. 

As she got ready for bed that night, she realized she had not heard from Adrien yet. She idly looked through her pajama drawer, running her hands across the fabrics. She loved making pajamas. They didn’t take a lot of fabric so her wages from the bakery were enough for the required supplies. Plus she had an occasion to wear them every night and sometimes during the day. She finally selected an emerald green crushed velvet set. The tanktop had black lace straps and the same lace across the square neckline. The shorts were also hemmed with the same black lace. As she was french braiding her hair, her phone finally chimed with a notification. Quickly, she secured the end of her braid and hurried over to check her phone.

Adrien: Father and Natalie went to London. Not coming back til Monday evening. Can I come over?  
Marinette: Of course! Can’t wait to see u!  
Marinette: Oh! Come as yourself. I’ll meet you at the private entrance on the side of the building.  
Adrien: I’ll take the Kitty express. Be there soon.

Marinette pulled on a bathrobe and padded down to the living room. Her Maman was sitting on the couch, sipping tea.

“Hey Maman,” she said. “Um, Adrien’s father went off to London and he’s in the house by himself until Monday evening. I’ve just invited him to stay over. I promise it’s just sleep. I don’t want him to be alone.”

Sabine nodded and smiled. “That is absolutely fine,” she said with a wink.

Marinette smiled and went out to the separate entrance on the side of the bakery. Adrien was outside waiting with a backpack.

“I decided to actually pack stuff this time,” he said.

“Awesome, Maman already knows you are coming to stay. It’s fine so don’t worry.”

Adrien smiled in relief. “I’m glad. I don’t like sneaking around your family when they’ve been so kind to me.”

Marinette took him by the hand and led him up to the living room. Sabine was still on the couch, finishing her tea.

“Good evening, Adrien,” she said with a smile. “I gather you are at a loose end this weekend.”

“Mostly,” he said. “I have fencing tomorrow afternoon and a Chinese lesson at my house after that. Otherwise there is nothing else.”

“Well you are very welcome. Marinette, will you be able to help in the bakery tomorrow morning?”

“Of course, Maman!” she exclaimed.

“Can, can I help too?” Adrien asked.

Sabine smiled broadly. “I am sure we can put you to work if you like! Now go get some sleep you two!”

“Goodnight Maman,” Marinette said.

“Goodnight Sabine, and thank you so much,” Adrien added gratefully.

“Goodnight dears,” Sabine said.

The two teens went up to Marinette’s room and shut the trap door behind them. Adrien put his bag near the Chaise. Plagg flew out, grinning.

“Getting to make a habit of this, aren’t we kid?” he said slyly. “I’m going to find Tikki!” he zipped off to where Tikki was snoozing on a pillow on the desk.

Marinette slipped off her robe and hung it on its hook.  
Adrien groaned, “Exactly how many cute sets of pajamas do you have?” he asked, catching her in a hug and swinging her around playfully.

Marinette giggled. “Pajamas are my favorite thing to make so… lots.”

Adrien laughed quietly. “I’m not complaining really,” he said with a wink.

Marinette climbed into her bed and Adrien followed, snuggling up behind her. He kissed the edge of her ear and stroked her shoulder.

“Good night Gorgeous,” Marinette murmured.

Adrien smiled and brushed his lips against the back of her neck. “Good night Bugaboo.”


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning, Adrien woke early to the sound of Marinette’s alarm. He opened his eyes and saw Marinette stirring next to him. Leaning up, he brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her cheek. “Time to get up,” he murmured.

“Mmmm,” she mumbled, opening her eyes sleepily. They widened as they settled on him. She smiled a sleepy smile. “Hi.” 

He smiled. “You are adorable when you’re waking up. But as much as I’d like to stay here and snuggle, we need to get up and go downstairs.”

“Suppose so...you can go get ready first,” she said. 

He nodded and climbed out of the bed. He gave her a playful wink as he descended the ladder.

******

Twenty minutes later they were both downstairs in the bakery.

“All right you two,” Sabine said, handing them each a cup of coffee and an apron. “Adrien, you are going to go help Tom. He’s going to show you how to knead dough and he’ll probably have a few more things to teach you. Marinette, you run the till and I’ll put together orders as usual.” Adrien and Marinette nodded and put their coffees down as they quickly put on their aprons.

At that moment, Tom popped his head through the kitchen door. “Ready to go son?” he asked with a grin. Adrien nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, sir!” he exclaimed, picking up his coffee cup. 

“Ah, call me Tom!” he replied. “Come on back!” he said, holding the door open wide.

The rest of the morning passed in the usual busy blur. Occasionally Adrien would come out with a basket of things to restock with. The first few times, Sabine helped him put everything where it belonged but soon he had the layout figured out and was doing it by himself. He was carefully stacking baguettes when two older ladies came in.

“Good morning Mrs Berger! Good morning Mrs Dupuis!” Marinette greeted them.

“Hello Marinette,” Mrs Berger replied. “And who is this delicious young man helping out?” she said with a wink.

Marinette and Adrien blushed as the two ladies giggled.

“Good morning ladies. I’m Adrien, Marinette’s boyfriend,” he said, introducing himself.

“Well haven’t you done well, Marinette?” Mrs Dupuis said with a raised eyebrow. “Handsome and helping out at the bakery! Quite the catch!”

Sabine laughed. “And stuck being teased relentlessly. Sorry Adrien,” she gave him a warm smile.

He relaxed and smiled. “That’s ok. Makes me feel like part of the family,” he said and the two older ladies cooed appreciatively.

“And so sweet natured!” Mrs Berger said approvingly. “I hope we get to see you here more often, Adrien.”

“I hope Sabine and Tom will let me help again!” Adrien laughed. “I’m enjoying it.”

“Oh, you can help out anytime you like,” Sabine said, patting his shoulder.

“For now, please excuse me. Tom is probably wondering where I went,” Adrien said, picking up his bread basket. He squeezed Marinette’s shoulder reassuringly as he went past her and she blushed again.

Both Mrs Berger and Mrs Dupuis watched him disappear into the back. When the door closed behind him, they turned their focus to Marinette.

“My dear girl,” Mrs Berger said mischievously. “Who knew you had such impeccable taste? I’ve never seen so much as a sniff of a young man around here until that glorious fellow.”

Marinette smiled politely. “I definitely feel very lucky. We’ve been friends a long time.”

“I’d say he’s very lucky too!” Mrs Dupuis interjected. “It seems to me he’s got exactly what he was looking for. He fits right in here!” she smiled slyly. “And he was quick to introduce himself as yours,” she added.

Marinette blushed deeply as all three women giggled.

“Ok ladies, I think we need to stop teasing Marinette or she’ll run off and leave me on my own!” Sabine said, her eyes twinkling merrily.

“Oh indeed. I think we’ve caused enough trouble now!” Mrs Berger said.

After the two ladies paid for their order and left, Sabine came over to the till. “Why don’t you go see Adrien and take your break?” she suggested.

“Ok, Maman,” Marinette agreed. She went and popped her head through the bakery door. She smiled as she watched her Papa demonstrate how to laminate dough in preparation for making croissants. They were both concentrating so hard, they didn’t notice her. Finally, Papa wrapped up the dough and put it in the refrigerator to chill. Adrien looked up and saw Marinette.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, his face lighting up in a big smile. “This is amazing. I’m really happy to get to help out!”

Marinette smiled at him and glanced at her Papa. He exchanged a soft glance with her that told her how enormously touched he was at Adrien’s enthusiasm. “Maman said we can break for some breakfast now. Do you want to choose some stuff while I get us some coffee?”

“Definitely,” he said. “Thanks Tom. I’ll be back later.”

“Looking forward to it, son,” Tom said, smiling warmly at him. “You are a hard worker. I’ve really appreciated your help.”

“Thank you,” Adrien said, grinning with pleasure at the compliment. He waved and followed Marinette out to the front.

******

After their break, Adrien quickly texted Gorilla to let him know where he was and ask him to bring his fencing bag when he came to pick him up.

“Shall we head back down?” he asked Marinette, kissing her cheek.

“Sure!” she replied. “What time do you have to leave for fencing?”

“1:30,” he replied. “Then Gorilla will take me home for my Chinese lesson and then I’ll come back here if that’s all right.”

“It’s more than all right,” Marinette murmured, giving him a hug.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a short one but very sweet. I hope you enjoy!

At just past one, Sabine locked up the bakery for their lunch break.

“Can I just grab something?” Adrien asked. “Gorilla will be here pretty soon.”

“Come up and I’ll make you a sandwich,” Sabine told him.

“Maman I’m going to take a quick shower,” Marinette said. “I got too close when Papa was making those spun sugar garnishes just now and I’m really sticky.”

“All right sweetie,” Sabine smiled and looked at Adrien. “Come on up and tell me what you’d like on your sandwich.”

Up in the family kitchen, Adrien stood leaning against the counter, watching Sabine pull things out of the refrigerator.

“May I ask you something, Sabine?” he requested.

“Of course!” she exclaimed.

“So, Marinette told me that you are… ok with us being alone together,” Adrien said haltingly. “I guess I was just surprised. I mean… I was homeschooled until I started school with Marinette so I haven’t been around a lot of kids or their parents… But anyone my age that is in a couple is either constantly supervised or sneaking around whenever they can.”

Sabine’s eyes twinkled. “That was my experience as a teenager too and it’s certainly what I hear from other parents with kids your age. Honestly, until you and Marinette happened, I didn’t know how I was going to react. I took a week to really think about what exactly worried me and what didn’t. I also spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of person Marinette is and what kind of person I think you are. I decided I wasn’t going to stick with being the typical parent with the traditional rules. It never seems to me that those rules work anyway.”

Adrien nodded, thinking of his friends Alya and Nino and the constant opportunism they employed, searching for moments alone. “So… what does worry you?”

“I’ll be happy to tell you more my dear, but first tell me what you want for lunch.” She watched as he grabbed a few things. “Wonderful… no… I’ll make it… I can talk and work… So, the main thing I worried about is that as I told Marinette, I get the sense of a very special connection between you two but I don’t know what it is exactly. You two are very young and intimacy is very new to you. I wanted to give Marinette some communication tools to discuss things with you. I wanted you to learn how to create boundaries together so you both know what you’re comfortable with. Getting carried away feels good in the moment but afterwards the feelings of guilt and regret and maybe even blame can really hurt a relationship. That is my greatest worry for you both.”

Adrien nodded. “Thanks for talking to me about this, Sabine. I think I understand better now.”

“You are more than welcome! I have to say,” Sabine laughed. “I was chatting to a few of my friends about my decision and they completely ridiculed me. You instigating this conversation with me tells me perhaps I’m not as foolish and naive as my friends say. Next time I see them, I’ll be sure to ask how many of their kids’ significant others have chosen to have a heart-to-heart with them!”

Adrien grinned. “It’s nice to talk to you. I would love to talk to my own mother if I could…” he said wistfully.

“Oh Adrien,” she gave him a big hug. “She’d be so proud of you.”

*****

Marinette had finished her shower and put on clean clothes as quickly as possible so she could say goodbye to Adrien. As she went down the steps to the living room, she heard him having a conversation with her mother. She listened quietly and her eyes softened. She went back upstairs, having no desire to interrupt them. She’d send him a text in a little while.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long chapter finally! Marinette and Adrien have some discussions about what they are comfortable with among many other things. You’ve been warned! Lol. But seriously, I hope you enjoy it.

Marinette spent her afternoon drafting patterns for Adrien’s birthday presents and pinning the pieces to the different fabrics she was using. Carefully, she cut each piece and sorted them between the three items of clothing she was making. Once everything was organized, she looked at her phone. Thirty minutes until Adrien would be back. She pulled out her current project basket and stacked the pieces inside before putting the whole thing in the trunk. She glanced at the pile of gifts already in the trunk and laughed. 

“I almost forgot,” she said softly to herself. “What did I make for him for his 17th?” She rooted through all the little wrapped presents until she found the right one and unwrapped it. It was a small black photo frame and in it was a picture of the two of them after filming the music video for Clara Nightingale. She was wearing a Chat Noir mask and he was wearing a Ladybug mask. She laughed loudly as she remembered that day and tucked the photo in with the rest of the presents she was working on and closed the trunk.

She was cleaning up around her sewing machine when she heard a knock on her door. “Come in!” she called.

“Hey!” Adrien greeted her. “How was your afternoon?”

“Really good! Although I’m not telling you what I did. It’s a surprise for later.”

“Ok,” he laughed, walking over and giving her a hug. “I’m really glad to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you too,” she said softly, putting her arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.”

“Mmmm,” he murmured, leaning into the kiss a little more and stroking her back. After a few more moments, he pulled away a little reluctantly. “So I decided to ask your Maman about what she told you,” he began.

“Ah,” she said in recognition. “I came down to see you off but heard you talking to her and decided not to interrupt. I wasn’t sure what you were talking about.”

“Well, I asked her some questions and she explained it all to me a little more. I think I understand a bit better now. I was wondering if maybe you’d want to talk about it with me now,” he looked down self-consciously.

“I-I think that’s a good idea,” she stammered, blushing. “A-although I’m not sure where to start.”

“Neither do I,” Adrien admitted. “Believe me, I’m just as nervous as you!”

“Why don’t we sit together on the chaise,” Marinette suggested.

“Scene of many a confession already,” Adrien laughed as he went to sit down.

Marinette curled up next to him and he put his arm around her. “I guess I’ll start,” she murmured, resting her head against the side of his chest. “You’ve kind of joked about my pajama fashion show… I wanted to make sure I wasn’t making you uncomfortable. I like being cute… and maybe a little, um, sexy for you… but if it’s too much, I can wear more...umm...covered-up pajamas?”

“Noooo, I am loving all your pajamas!” he exclaimed. “You might be melting my brain but it’s in the best possible way.”

“I’m glad,” she said softly.

“I want to ask you something now,” he said. “When I kissed your neck and then you wanted to stop, was it what I was doing that made you want to stop?”

“No, I just felt like… even more was going to happen and if I didn’t speak up right then… we were just going to end up kissing more parts of each other and… I’m not ready for that.”

“Oooh, that makes sense. I hadn’t talked about it with you so you didn’t know what I had in mind,” he said, his eyes lighting up with understanding. “So if I said I just want to kiss your face and your neck… and nothing lower than that?”

“Yeah, that would be… amazing,” agreed Marinette, her cheeks pink but her sense of comfort growing.

Adrien smiled. “And if you want to kiss my neck, I’d like that too,” he said, blushing himself. “Um, is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“Well… I’m not exactly sure how to say this… I know as our alter-egos there have been lots of times where our bodies have been thrown together and sometimes we’ve ended up like that as… ourselves lately when we’ve been playing around. I like how it feels but I’m not ready to… be like you on top of me or me on top of you and kissing… well any more than a little kiss. Do you get what I mean?”

“Yeah, that is something for ‘someday’ but maybe not yet,” Adrien agreed. “If I snuggle up to you in bed and give you a kiss, is that ok?”

“Yes, I’m just not ready for making out under the covers or anything like that yet.”

“Ooof,” Adrien groaned, fanning himself. “I’m not ready for that either but that doesn’t mean you didn’t just give me something very nice to think about!”

Marinette giggled, “Don’t worry. I think about things like that too. I think we are allowed to look forward to ‘someday’ even if we aren’t ready for it yet.”

“So, do you have anything further to add?” he asked.

“Nope… you?” she replied.

“Nope, I’d say that's the meeting adjourned!” he said with a laugh.

“Good talk team Adrinette!” she said offering him a fist.

“Cheers to team Adrinette,” he agreed, laughing and bumping her fist.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Adrien idly stroking her arm. “We should go on patrol tonight,” he eventually said.

“Good idea,” Marinette agreed.

“Since you’re talking about patrol, did you bring any of that fancy Camembert, kid?” Plagg said, floating over.

“Yeah, I did actually,” Adrien said, getting up. “It’s in a little cooler in my bag.” He walked over, pulled it out and set it on the desk. Popping the lid, he made a little bow to Plagg. “Bon Appetit” he said with a wink.

Plagg inhaled deeply as he dived into the cooler. “Oh sweetest of Camembert. Thanks kid, you seriously are the greatest.”

“I’m going to remember you said that,” Adrien chuckled.

“Tikki, do you need any more cookies?” Marinette asked as the little red Kwami floated over to join them.

“That would be great, thanks Marinette!”

Marinette smiled and got to her feet. “I’ll be right back,” she promised.

“Adrien, I am so proud of you and Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed as they waited for Marinette to come back. “You’ve successfully navigated some really difficult conversations better than a lot of adults would.”

“Ah, thanks, Tikki. Do you think you could tell me a bit about what happened with the beret? I know you probably heard me talking about it with Marinette.”

“Well,” Tikki said. “I’ll never know what specifically happened in the other timeline because she was always transformed. I knew the akuma was you. I knew her identity had been compromised by the gift so I made her an eraser to remove her name from it as a lucky charm. I can tell you that before she gave you the gift, she was panicking because Natalie had turned her away and then she abruptly decided to transform into Ladybug and sneak in. That is honestly all I know.”

“I wonder how long it was before Marinette knew anything was wrong,” he mused.

“You’d have to ask her,” Tikki said.

At that moment, the trap door lifted and the two Kwami disappeared. Marinette stepped in with a plate of cookies and shut the door behind her.

“It’s ok guys, just me,” she called, setting the plate of cookies next to the cooler.

“I was just asking Tikki how long it was before you knew something was wrong after you left the beret.”

“It was pretty fast… maybe a few minutes. Do you remember Bunnix? She came and saw me in this complete panic. I’m not sure how far into the future she took me.”

“I guess the less details the better,” Adrien said.

“Not gonna lie, I’m glad I haven’t seen her again. She is really cool but you know, no news is good news.”

“Tikki also said Natalie had turned you away and you decided to sneak in as Ladybug.”

“Yeah, that was very stupid. It took something as horrible as that to make me realize how careful I need to be about transforming, especially for personal reasons. In fact, I hadn’t transformed for a personal reason for at least a year when we revealed our identities. At least that was a controlled environment. However, it does make me think about sneaking in to see each other. I don’t necessarily think we shouldn’t do that but I don’t think we should surprise each other with it anymore. We should always make sure the other person thinks it is safe for us to sneak in that way.”

“Thinking things through before transforming is absolutely vital,” Tikki agreed. “You’ve generally been very careful but you are even better now at controlling those impulses. Neither of you should be too hard on yourselves. You are some of our youngest holders and you’ve had to learn the same lessons as everyone else but because of your alternate identities, the consequences of any mistakes have been much more severe.

“That’s for sure,” Marinette said with a sigh. “It’s been very hard for me to process all of the stuff that happened then. I’m so scared of getting akumatised if I really take the time to think about it.”

“I know Marinette. It’s only natural to experience extreme emotions when you are dealing with so much. You’ve done a wonderful job of staying focused on solutions.”

Adrien looked at her and felt so much regret that he hadn’t been able to help her more when she was going through so much. “I’m sorry you went through all that and I was so clueless.”

Marinette took his hand. “You weren’t clueless. You were doing the best you could to support me and I kept you at a distance because I was so scared.”

Gently, Adrien brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “From now on, if either of us feel scared about… anything, I think we need to tell each other as quickly as possible. Especially because of our alternate identities. It could prevent a potential threat from becoming a lot more dangerous. I know I can’t know everything you’re thinking about and I don’t even want to but I always want to be able to protect you and help you when you need it.”

“And I want to be able to do the same for you,” Marinette replied softly.

They sat quietly, each deep in thought about everything they had talked about.

******

It was long after sunset and Ladybug and Chat Noir were finishing patrol. It had been a busy Saturday night. No akumas but a lot of rowdy civilians, especially around the various nightclubs scattered across the center of Paris. Chat had escorted several drunken revellers to nearby taxi ranks and Ladybug had consoled so many distraught people that she had lost count.

“I forgot how rough Saturday nights are,” she remarked to Chat as they hung out on the Eiffel Tower. “Hawk Moth really missed a trick tonight with so many people trying to drink their problems away. It’s scary to think about how many potential akuma situations I saw.”

“Yeah, I’m afraid that after all this time, it’s getting harder and harder for people to manage their emotions thanks to Hawk Moth. I’m surprised he hasn’t akumatised a drunk person yet. They seem like easy pickings to me.”

Ladybug shuddered. “I hope he never tries.”

“I hope we catch a break and figure out who the bastard is,” Chat said.

“Me too,” she replied fervently. “And on that happy note, I’m going home.”

Chat laughed. “I’ll meet you there,” he promised.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> re Plagg and his cooler. I am sure he could force the cooler open but then that would wreck it and he would no longer have his own personal cheese cooler. 😉

As soon as Ladybug landed on the balcony, she opened the trap door and went inside. After de-transforming, she picked out her pajamas and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she came back to her room, Adrien had already arrived and de-transformed.

“Hey!” he smiled at her as he retrieved some Camembert from his little cooler for Plagg. “You look so cute. Are those the pajamas you wore when you came over the other night?”

“Yep,” she smiled. “I felt like wearing pink tonight.”

He ruffled her hair playfully. “I’m going to go get ready for bed. Be right back!”

“Do you need more cookies, Tikki?” Marinette asked after he had shut the door.

“No, I’m fine Marinette. Thanks for asking,” Tikki replied, nuzzling her cheek.

“I wouldn’t say no to more Camembert,” Plagg said casually.

Marinette giggled. “Can’t you just phase in there and get it?” she asked, gesturing at the closed cooler.

“I can go in but I can’t get it out and I don’t really like sitting in there eating in the dark.”

“Got it,” she said. “Sure, I’ll get you some more.” She opened the cooler and took out another wedge of cheese. “Bon Appetit!”

Plagg sighed rapturously as he inhaled a big whiff of his cheese. “Thanks Pigtails!”

“Did Plagg talk himself into more cheese?” Adrien asked, laughing as he walked up behind Marinette.

“What can I say, I can’t resist kitty eyes,” Marinette said with a wry smile.

Adrien grinned mischievously. “Does it still work when I’m not a kitty?” he asked, batting his eyelids. 

“You’re always a kitty,” Marinette giggled.

“Well, in that case…” he scooped her up over his shoulder and climbed up the ladder to her bed.

“Hey!” she protested, trying not to laugh too loudly.

Gently, he plopped her down on the mattress. She was still giggling and attempting to smooth her hair and straighten her pajamas at the same time. Adrien crawled over to the head of the bed, resting against her enormous cat pillow.

“Do the kitty eyes work now?” he asked quietly.

Marinette looked up at him as he gazed at her. “They might be,” she murmured, scooting over to sit next to him.

Smiling, he leaned over and gently kissed her lips. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” he whispered, pulling her into his lap.

“Me too,” she confessed, looking up at him and stroking the side of his face.

Carefully, he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her. Marinette’s hand slipped from his face into his hair as they moved their lips together, finding their rhythm. He brushed her hair from her face and cradled the back of her head with one hand while his other arm pulled her against him. Briefly, they broke apart.

“Is this ok?” he asked quietly. When she nodded, he kissed her again, flicking his tongue into her mouth. As they continued to kiss, they were each trying new ways to place their mouths and move their tongues. They could both feel the electricity of their connection but it was less overwhelming because they each knew what the other wanted and they had both agreed when they would stop.

When Adrien broke away from the kiss and moved his lips behind her ear, Marinette forgot about everything else and just focused on how good it felt as he moved his mouth down the side of her neck. She moaned quietly as he lingered at the corner of her neck and shoulder. Her fingers flexed and tightened in his hair as he placed delicate kisses up her throat to her chin. When he stopped, she opened her eyes to see him smiling tenderly at her. She shifted in his lap, pulling herself a little higher, feeling his arm tighten supportively. Tentatively, she delicately kissed his earlobe then carefully, she grazed her teeth against it. She felt him shudder against her and her confidence in what she was doing grew. Keeping her mouth slightly open, she kissed down the side of his neck. She could feel his little shivers with each kiss and his fingers tangling in her hair. She kissed the base of his neck, daringly swirling her tongue against his skin.

“Ooh,” he groaned, holding her tightly to him. 

Marinette gave his neck another light kiss before moving away from him. Reluctantly, he loosened his arm so she could sit next to him. He put his arm around her shoulder as he caught his breath.

“That was amazing,” he finally said.

“Yeah,” agreed Marinette. “In the best possible way, I feel like I’m on fire.”

Adrien laughed. “We should get some sleep Bug,” he said, pulling back the blankets.

Marinette slid in next to him. “I swear this feels like it should be illegal,” she murmured as she rested her head on his chest, enjoying the feeling of his content purring as it lulled her to sleep.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some angst as Adrien actually talks about the uncertain nature of his mother’s disappearance.

When Marinette’s alarm went off on Sunday morning, she woke with relative ease. At some point, she had rolled onto her other side and Adrien had snuggled up behind her, his arm curved around her waist.

“Good morning,” he murmured near her ear as the alarm continued to chime. “Want me to get that?”

“Yes, please,” she murmured back. He gave her a quick squeeze and rolled over to shut the alarm off.

“I’m going to go get ready,” he told her as he climbed out of bed and down the ladder. She smiled and rolled onto her back, smiling to herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tikki floating her way.

“Hey Tikki,” she greeted the Kwami.

“Hello Marinette, how are you feeling?”

“Wonderful,” sighed Marinette.

Tikki laughed. “You two are awfully cute together, I’ll admit.”

“Ugh, why is everyone so sappy around here?” Plagg zipped up to join them, his tiny nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Oh, you like it and you know it,” Tikki said, giving him a playful shove. “Stinky Sock.”

“You’re so cruel Sugar Cube. Did you see that, Pigtails? Such unnecessary violence,” Plagg said.

Marinette giggled. “You two are adorable.” Tikki grinned sweetly as Plagg made a retching noise.

“So Marinette, I was going to ask if you have plans after you are done helping your parents,” Tikki said.

“I have to do my homework but that’s all,” she replied.

“I thought maybe we could call Wayzz out and see what he could tell us about when Master Fu was the Guardian.”

“Oh, could we?” Adrien said, walking back in wearing skinny blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He smiled as he came over to Marinette and slipped his arm around her shoulders.

“Sure,” Marinette said thoughtfully.

“What are you thinking about?” Adrien asked.

“I don’t know… I always feel like I’m going to make some terrible mistake and Paris will end up on fire or something. The Guardian stuff still terrifies me, I guess.” she smiled ruefully.

Adrien’ face fell. “Oh, Marinette,” he said, gathering her in a big hug. “I hate how much pressure you’ve had to deal with by yourself. I really want to find things I can do to support you and talking to Wayzz could help. Plus, we’ll be very careful, right?” he kissed her forehead.

“Ok… I can’t hide from it, after all,” she said with a sigh. “I’m going to go get ready.”

Adrien watched with concern as she gathered some clothes and left the room.

“Tikki,” he said. “Apart from hiding the box and giving out the Miraculous, what has she had to do over the past year?”

“She’s been working to decipher the Grimoire. She’s trying to figure out if there is more she can do as Ladybug. Also, I don’t think she’s been handing out the Miraculous since everyone’s identities were revealed.

“You’re right,” Adrien said thoughtfully. “I think I’ve seen Rena Rouge once since then and that’s it.”

“Yeah, she was really desperate that time,” Tikki nodded. “She’s just not sure who to pick for the Miraculous anymore. Or if it is remotely a good idea to let the same people use them even if their identities are compromised.”

Adrien sighed, “Well, I’m going to be spending my morning coming up with lots of questions, I think.”

Marinette came back from the bathroom with her hair in a top knot, wearing a pink t-shirt with puffy sleeves and black jeans. “Ready to go downstairs?” she asked Adrien.

“Of course,” he replied, smiling at her. “But first…” he pulled her to him and kissed her tenderly. “I love you and I will do anything to help you.”

She leaned up and returned his kiss. “I know you will. I love you too.”

****

“Good morning!” Sabine greeted them as they came down the stairs together holding hands. “Here are your aprons, I’ll get you each some coffee.”

“Thanks Maman,” Marinette said, putting on her apron.

“Here you are, Adrien,” Sabine said, handing him his coffee. “Tom is waiting for you.”

“Ok, see you both later!” he called as he disappeared into the kitchen.

It was unusually busy, even for a Sunday and the teens ended up skipping their breakfast break. When Sabine locked the doors for their lunch break, everyone was starving. Tom picked up a tray and loaded it with baguettes, croissants and macarons. Once they were upstairs, Tom and Adrien sat at the dining table, slicing up the bread while Marinette got drinks and Sabine loaded a cutting board with thin slices of meat and cheese. Soon they were all piling different combinations of cold cuts on bread and devouring them ravenously.

“What are your plans for the day, kids?” Tom asked. 

“We need to get our homework done first of all. Maybe we’ll watch a movie after that or something. Can we help you clear up before we hit the books?” Adrien asked.

“Thank you dear. If you and Marinette can clear the table, I’ll get everything washed.

After helping clear up, Marinette and Adrien climbed the stairs to her room. As soon as the door shut behind them, Adrien scooped Marinette up and carried her to the chaise. Giggling, she wrapped her arms around his neck as he sat down. He reached down and slid her shoes off before kicking his own off and swinging his legs up on the chaise.

“I thought we were going to do our homework,” she teased, snuggling in his lap.

“After all that hard work in the bakery, I think we deserve a little break first,” Adrien said. He stroked along her jaw and gently tilted her face up to his before pressing his lips to hers. He placed a row of delicate kisses to her ear before opening his mouth slightly and kissing down the side of her neck. He grazed his teeth very lightly on the corner of her neck and shoulder, enjoying the way she shivered against him.

“That feels so nice,” she murmured. She leaned up and kissed him again.

“I guess we should do our homework now,” he said, sighing reluctantly.

Marinette giggled. “Probably a good idea,” she agreed, kissing his cheek before getting up to get her backpack.

****

Adrien closed his last book and looked up.”Hey Bug, how’s it going?” he asked as he put his finished work away.

“I’m almost done,” she said.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked.

“Yeah, why don’t you go get us some coffee from Maman?” she said, turning from her work to smile at him.

“That sounds great, actually,” he said. “I’ll be right back,” he opened the trap door and made his way down to the bakery.

“Hi Sabine,” he greeted her as he walked into the bakery. 

“Hello Adrien!” she smiled. “Taking a break from your homework?”

“Nah, I’m done. Marinette wasn’t quite finished so I said I’d go get us some coffee,” he explained.

“Ah, well it’s quiet so I can show you how to make it with the cafetiere if you like. Have you ever used one before?”

“No! I saw Marinette use one of those when we went out for dinner but the coffee was already brewed. I’d love to learn how to use one!” he said enthusiastically.

Smiling, she went over to the coffee station and pulled out a cafetiere. She showed him how to rinse it out with some hot water from her boiler before adding the correct amount of freshly ground coffee. She filled it half full of hot water and stirred it with a big spoon before filing it up the rest of the way with more hot water. “Now we put the lid on top and let it set for three minutes before we put down the plunger,” she explained.

“Wow, thanks for showing me how these work!” he said.

“You’re very welcome,” Sabine said. “Have you heard from your Father since he left?”

“Nope,” he said dismissively. “To be honest, I wouldn’t expect to. He is not exactly a _present_ sort of Father. My mother used to make a big effort to draw him out and spend time with us as a family because he’s always been focused on his work. Then she started getting sick and he completely withdrew from me, spending all his time with her and his work. Then she disappeared… and… he…” Adrien paused, breathing shakily. “I’m sorry, I don’t talk about it much. He won’t talk about it.. He never would… I don’t know if she’s… hidden away in a h-hospital somewhere and h-he won’t tell me.. Or… maybe, maybe she’s… dead.. And he doesn’t want to tell… me that either or he doesn’t know how to tell me….” Adrien’s breathing was getting shakier and shakier.

“Tom!” Sabine called.

“Is something wrong?” he said, poking his head out of the door. His expression changed to concern when he saw Adrien, weakly clutching to the counter.

“Can you watch the till?” she asked quietly, taking Adrien’s arm and leading him into the kitchen. Tom nodded, patting Adrien’s shoulder comfortingly as he went past.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Adrien sank to his knees and let the tears fall. Sabine kneeled down with him and hugged him tight as he cried into her shoulder.

“I’m s-s-sorry,” he gasped as he tried to control his emotions. “It’s just.. There’s been… no funeral.. No hospital visits… no letters from her… n-n-nothing. And no-no one to tell…” 

“Don’t apologize dear,” Sabine said, rubbing his back soothingly. “You’ve been through something terrible and as you say, you have had no one to talk to. You can’t hold that pain inside forever. I want you to know you are always welcome here and if you need an adult to talk to, I am always available.”

“Th-thank you Sabine,” he whispered, wiping his eyes. 

Slowly, Sabine let him go but she stayed kneeling next to him. “You should talk to Marinette about this as well,” she said quietly. “I know she would want to support you.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, slowly getting back to his feet.

Sabine got to her feet and put her hand on his shoulder. “Now shall we go get your coffee?”

“Yeah,” Adrien said again, managing a small smile. It felt like every moment he spent with Marinette and her family was healing whatever had broken inside of him when his mother became ill.


	22. Chapter 22

Marinette was putting her books away when Adrien returned with two cups of coffee. 

“I’m back,” he said. “Your Maman showed me how to use the cafetiere.”

“Cool!” she smiled, looking up at his face. Her face fell as she saw the tear stains on his cheeks. “Are… are you okay?” she asked, getting up from her chair, taking the coffees from him and setting them down on the desk.

“Yeah, I’m ok now. Your Maman asked if Father had checked in with me and one thing led to another and I started spilling my guts,” he smiled ruefully.

“Maman has a real talent for that,” Marinette agreed, giving him a hug. “It is pretty difficult keeping all the Miraculous stuff from her. I’m afraid if she asked the right question, it’d all come out before I even knew what I was saying.”

“Well I guess my Father’s complete disregard for my personal interests has its uses after all,” Adrien joked but his voice caught. “Ok, I guess that was too soon for me to be joking about it.” He smiled weakly at her. “Sooo, speaking of the Miraculous.”

“Oh, no no no,” Marinette said, pushing him over to the chaise and making him sit down before she retrieved his coffee for him. “I do not think that’s a good idea right now.” She grabbed her own coffee before sitting next to him and taking a sip. “Mmmm, well it looks like your coffee lesson was successful.”

“Thanks,” Adrien said, taking a drink himself. “Yep, I’m going to be making my own coffee at home now. So why is the Miraculous a bad idea now?”

“It’s incredibly draining,” Marinette said. “I know it’s a while ago but do you remember what the first few days of being a Miraculous holder were like?

“Overwhelming?” Adrien answered. “Oh… is that what it’s like to open the Miraculous box? 

“If you release any of the Kwami, yes,’ Marinette said. “Maybe it will get easier over time but so far… anyway it’s because we don’t have the same bonds with the other Kwami. Talking to them is fascinating but they don’t look at information short-term and it’s hard to wrap your brain around those conversations sometimes. Tikki and Plagg are used to us and they have been out and about more frequently than the other Kwami so they know how to make information more relatable. Wayzz is pretty good because he spent so much time out with Master Fu but his perspective with him even goes back a long ways so he still thinks pretty big picture compared to us.

“You’re right. I don’t think I can do that right now,” Adrien agreed. “Do you open the box very often?”

“I try to at least twice a month. I’m working on deciphering the Grimoire. There are pages that Master Fu hadn’t deciphered yet. I’ve been looking at his notes and trying to use them to figure out the rest. It’s really difficult.

“So what are we going to do instead?” Adrien asked, seeing her expression and deciding it was a good time to change the subject.

“You mentioned watching a movie,” Marinette said. “Help me drag the chaise over and we’ll watch a movie on my monitor.”

“Ok,” Adrien said, getting up to help her.

Once they had the chaise in a good spot, Marinette opened her movie folder and selected ‘Spirited Away’. 

Adrien’s face lit up when the movie menu filled the screen. “This is one of my favorite movies ever!” he exclaimed.

“Mine too,” agreed Marinette, moving the mouse over “Play”. She paused for a moment and turned to face him. “Have you ever had a foot rub?” she asked. ‘

“Um, no,” he said, looking confused. “Have you?”

“Yeah, my Papa gives me foot rubs after wearing uncomfortable shoes.” Marinette said. “It’s very relaxing. If you don’t mind, I’d like to try rubbing your feet for you.”

“Ok,” he said shyly.

Marinette clicked on the play button and grabbed some lotion from her desk. She sat down at the foot of the chaise and put Adrien’s feet in her lap and took off his shoes and socks before putting some lotion on her hands and gently stroking his feet.

“Wow,” Adrien said, closing his eyes blissfully. “That does feel really good.” 

Marinette smiled, running her thumb under the arch of his foot. “Papa told me foot rubs are a good way to take care of someone because you can teach that person how to take care of you by giving them…” her face suddenly turned bright red as she thought about what her Papa had said.

“What is it?” Adrien said when she paused without opening his eyes, the comforting sound of the movie’s music filling the silence.

Marinette groaned. “I just realized Papa was trying to impart some life lessons without getting too specific. He also said someday I’d be teaching my boyfriend to give foot rubs… ugh.. I didn’t even realize…”

Adrien cracked a smile and opened his eyes. “All this relationship advice coming from your parents… I mean… are they dying for grandkids or something?”

“Adrien!” she shrieked, swatting him on the leg. He started to laugh loudly. “I cannot believe you said that!” Then they were both laughing hysterically.

****

Sabine and Tom were watching a movie in the living room when they heard the muffled laughter coming from Marinette’s room. Tom smiled at his wife. “I think you were right,” he told her. Sabine grinned. “Welcome to Team Adrinette,” she said.

*****

The movie was nearly over and Marinette was lightly stroking Adrien’s feet as she watched Chihiro run down the hill without looking back. She glanced up at Adrien and smiled softly. He was sound asleep, his face peaceful and his breathing slow and deep. Carefully, she moved his feet from her lap and got up.

“Marinette?” he asked sleepily, his eyes flickering open.

“Awww, I didn’t mean to wake you!” she said apologetically.

“How long have I been asleep?” he asked. 

“I don’t know. Not very long. I didn’t even realize you were asleep until a couple minutes ago.”

“Mmmm,” he stretched his arms. “Come snuggle with me Bug.”

“Ok, dinner is going to be pretty soon though, sleepy cat,” she said sitting back down on the chaise. 

Adrien reached out and pulled her down to him. “I’ll take what I can get,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

“Oh, is that so?” she murmured, pulling herself away and turning to face him. She lowered her face to his and lightly kissed his lips, then she abruptly started raining down little kisses all over his face.

Hey!” he protested, laughing. Marinette continued kissing him, mercilessly giving him little pecks all over his cheeks, loving the way his nose wrinkled as he spluttered and laughed, trying to push her away. Suddenly, he changed tactics and pulled her against him. She let out a surprised squeak as their mouths collided. He pulled away and smiled, sheepishly. “That didn’t go quite the way I intended,” he said, rubbing his mouth and laughing.

“That’s ok,” Marinette replied, giggling. “I think I still have all my teeth.”

“How about we try that again with a little more cooperation?” he suggested with a wink.

“Sounds good to me,” she murmured, sitting next to him.

He leaned into her, touching her cheek and gazing into her eyes. She moved her mouth until it was lightly touching his and she felt his lips curve into a smile. 

And then he kissed her.

Marinette closed her eyes and let him take the lead. She felt his tongue against her lips and opened her mouth, allowing him to caress her tongue with his own. The room was filling with the electricity of their connection as they kissed each other with growing intensity. She could feel her emotions taking over and the overwhelming urge to just pull him on top of her and let him do what he wanted made her very aware of just how much she desired him. The intensity of that feeling and the strange, compelling ambiance in the room shocked her and she broke away, gasping.

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” Adrien said, trying to catch his breath.

“Don’t be… did you feel that… electricity?” she asked.

“Yeah.. I just thought.. Maybe it was me getting carried away.. I’m glad you pulled away because…”

“It’s ok Adrien.. I’m not mad.. I just… between that electricity and my own feelings… I love kissing you and right up to a few moments ago.. I could leave it at that. I just couldn’t imagine anything else. Believe me, I still want to take this slowly and appreciate all the things we’ll get to experience as a couple… but I want you to know..” She trailed off for a moment and looked at his face, absorbing every detail of just how beautiful he was to her. His bright green eyes stared into her and she wondered if he was feeling what she was feeling.

“Marinette, what is it?” he asked.

“I-I want you to know… how much I want you.”

His eyes darkened. “Do you mean…?”

“Yes…” she said quietly.

He closed his eyes. “Marinette, you can’t even imagine what it is doing to me, hearing you say that.”

Marinette laughed nervously and looked down at her hands. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Oh it’s mostly good… I just think it’s going to get a lot more difficult to control ourselves. Because… I want you too.”

She looked up at him and was taken aback by how intently he looked at her. She could feel the electricity again…

“Tikki?” she said shakily. “Can you feel this?”

“I can, Marinette and so can Plagg. And you know why. You know the significance of being chosen as Ladybug and Chat Noir. You’ve just dismissed it before because you weren’t ready to accept what you both are..”

“Marinette, what does she mean?” Adrien asked, looking deeply worried. “Is it bad?”

“We’re… we’re soulmates.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really appreciate the kind comments I have received. I started writing this as pure escapism from all the pressure and stress of being in self-quarantine with my husband and our two young daughters. I am a pretty anxious person myself and dealing with my older daughter’s own anxiety over homeschool and everything being cancelled, including her birthday party with her classmates that she had been looking forward to for months... well it’s been too much and it’s nice to go be in a world where I can resolve every problem.


	23. Chapter 23

Marinette woke up reluctantly the next morning when her alarm went off. She sighed as she remembered the previous evening.

Adrien had been quiet for the rest of the night and she had half expected him to leave after dinner. He had helped clean up after they had eaten and Marinette had braced herself for him packing up his stuff when they returned to her room. Instead, he had taken her hand and led her back to the chaise.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet. I didn’t want to say the first thing that came to mind. I needed to think…”

“Of course you did,” Marinette was trying to take comfort from his hand in hers.

“Turns out, the first thing I thought is the only thing I can think… I’m glad.”

Marinette slowly raised her eyes to his. “Really?”

“Yes,” he said with certainty. “And there’s a lot more we can say later. For now, I just want to say that I think this means that as easy as it would be to let that connection take over, I think that makes it all the more important that we stick to what we’re comfortable doing and we keep talking, ok?”

“Ok,” she said softly, tears of relief filling her eyes.

“Hey,” he said, seeing her tears. “I love you Marinette.”

They had sat together watching ‘ _Adventure Time’_ until it was late enough for bed. They had taken turns getting ready and then crawled in together.

Now it was morning and Adrien was stirring as the alarm on Marinette’s phone persistently chimed. Smiling, she leaned down and kissed his cheek.

“Wake up Adrien,” she coaxed. “We have school today.” His eyes flickered open.

“Marinette,” he said groggily. “Was yesterday real?”

She paused. “Yes… for better or worse.”

“In sickness and health?” he smiled at her expression. “What, too soon?”

“Literally,” she mumbled and he laughed loudly.

“Ok, I’m getting up. I’m afraid I need to pack up. There’s no way I can get away with staying another night and I want to make sure I keep everyone happy on my end so I can have my birthday plans.”

“Oh, I know,” Marinette said sadly. Adrien touched her cheek gently then climbed out of bed and went to get ready.

******

Half an hour later, they arrived at school, hand in hand.

“Dude, what’s with the luggage?” Nino asked with a raised eyebrow. “On your way out?”

“Nah,” Adrien said with a quick glance at Marinette. She caught his eye and they smiled at each other.

Nino’s eyes widened. “Ok, Agreste, what the hell is going on?”

At that moment, Alya walked up to join them. “Hey babe,” she said, kissing Nino’s cheek. “What are you so riled up about?”

“Check Sunshine’s _luggage_ ,” he said.

Obediently, Alya observed Adrien’s extra bag. “Got somewhere to be, Agreste?” she asked.

Nino snorted. “I think it’s more like ‘got somewhere you were.”

Alya’s eyes swivelled between Adrien and Marinette. “Unnngh?! You haven’t .. you aren’t… what?”

Adrien’s eyes twinkled. “Seems like someone’s lost her words,” he teased.

Alya’s eyes narrowed. “You know what I mean Sunshine…”

Adrien was about to reply but Marinette squeezed his arm which he took to mean, ‘ _Let me_ ’ His mouth quirked in amusement as he decided to just stand back and watch the fireworks.

“Oh, we know what you mean, Alya,” Marinette purred, holding even tighter to Adrien’s arm. “I’m just not sure we’re willing to confirm or deny anything, are we Gorgeous?” Adrien turned and looked at her and it was nearly impossible to keep a straight face. Her eyes were dancing merrily but there was also something about her expression that told him to keep following her lead. “So how was your weekend, you two?”

“Well, it was pretty good, actually,” Nino began but Alya swatted his arm.

“Hey! I’m not done with these two yet. Don’t let them distract us from the truth! I think the real question is how was your weekend, you two?”

Adrien snuck a look at Marinette. Her expression had now changed to one he knew well. ‘ _Go ahead Kitty_ ’.

He turned his brightest smile on Alya and Nino. “Actually,” he said brightly, “It was absolutely glorious, thanks for asking!” He pulled Marinette to him and kissed her passionately. Alya and Nino stood there bug-eyed. “Let’s go, Princess. I want to get rid of my…” he lowered his voice enough that only the four of them could hear, “ _overnight_ bag before class.” Then he and Marinette exploded in laughter, clutching each other as they walked past the completely dumbfounded couple.

*******

For the rest of the day, Alya alternated between badgering the couple for details and silently staring at them as if she was looking for a little crack in what might just be a facade they had come up with purely to mess with her head. 

At lunch time, Alya asked them if they wanted to join her and Nino for lunch.

“Sorry, maybe tomorrow,” Adrien said apologetically. He turned to Marinette. “Do you want to come with me? I want to take my bag back before Father and Natalie get home tonight. The less they know about this weekend, the better.”

Alya made a small, whimpering sound of frustration. Muttering. “What the fuck…” she turned and stalked off.

“Bye Alya,” Marinette called out loudly before she and Adrien exploded in laughter again.

Her face…” Adrien wheezed.

“I know,” moaned Marinette. “Aaah, that was wonderful. Do you think we’ll always be able to wind her up or will the novelty run out eventually?”

“These kinds of opportunities probably don’t last forever,” he conceded as they walked to the car with his bag. “We should take advantage while we can.” He opened the door for her. “After you, Princess.”

As Gorilla drove them over to the Agreste mansion, Marinette raised her fist. “Team Adrinette?” Adrien smiled and bumped his fist against hers. “Team Adrinette.”


	24. Chapter 24

It was Thursday before Adrien and Marinette finally went for the promised lunch meetup with Alya and Nino.

“So you guys, the gig is up. You _better_ start talking.” Alya said as they all squeezed into a booth at a small Ramen shop near the school.

Marinette giggled, not in the least bit phased by her friend’s bossy tone. Adrien’s busy schedule had kept them apart after school but they had come to an agreement over text to put her out of her misery.

“Why don’t you ask me whatever it is you want to know?” Marinette asked cooly.

Alya boggled at her friend’s calm demeanor. Where was all this confidence coming from?

“So, uh, did you guys spend the weekend together?”

“Yes,” Marinette answered as Adrien nodded.

“What, really?”

“Yes,” Adrien said. “Father and Natalie went off to London at the last moment and I didn’t want to bounce around an empty house all weekend. Marinette invited me to stay and her parents were cool with it. It was a lot of fun actually. I got to help in the bakery and we had some amazing conversations and…” he winked. “She let me share her bed.”

“Well dude, I’m jealous,” Nino finally said, breaking the shocked silence that followed that particular revelation. “And after all that shit I gave you about getting a girl to go to bed with you.”

“Now, Nino,” he protested. “It was definitely not like that..”

“Are you kidding me?” Alya screeched, earning her aggressive whispers from some of the other diners.

“Hey chill there babe or you’ll get us kicked out,” Nino muttered.

At that moment, a couple of waiters delivered their bowls of ramen.

“I’m not kidding,” Adrien said calmly. “We’ve only been together for just about four weeks. Neither of us is ready for that.”

“Well, can you blame me for being sceptical?” Alya grumbled. “I’ve watched Marinette pine for your oblivious ass for years and then this random bolt from the blue and you’re suddenly perfectly in sync. And then add Marinette’s parents who are so chill they’d probably buy you condoms if you asked. I mean, why wouldn’t you?”

“Because it matters to us,” Marinette said quietly. “Everything you just said is true--probably even the condoms although I haven’t asked.--but it's all going to stay true so what’s the rush?”

Alya’s shoulders slumped in defeat.”I can’t really argue with that, can I? And you’re both so obviously happy, who can even be mad?” Suddenly Alya noticed Adrien’s lock screen on his phone. There was Marinette kissing his cheek and his surprised but happy expression. She groaned and picked it up to show Nino. “Seriously, I should be allowed to be pissed off about all this teasing after the dedication I’ve shown this ship. You’ve been bullshitting me about your weekend for four days. But nooo, you are too cute. And so beautiful together…” Alya sighed. “Yeah, I’m not mad.”

The teens went quiet as they finished lunch. When the waiters came to take their bowls, Adrien looked at Alya and smiled. “Thanks for your support, Alya, I’m glad you aren’t angry. I make no promises about further teasing though,” he winked and Marinette giggled.

They were walking back to school when a dreadful screeching sound filled the air. The teens looked around in alarm as a large shadow covered the ground.

Adrien looked up, “Ah, damn, a flying one,” he muttered as it swept over their heads, flying toward the Arc de Triomphe.

“Holy shit, that is epic!” Alya screeched in excitement as she pulled out her phone and started running toward it.

“Alya, no!” Nino yelled as he started chasing after her.

“Alya, yes!” she retorted as she picked up speed.

Marinette and Adrien stood together, abandoned by their friends. He smirked, “They really are the perfect friends for us. Always heading straight for trouble without paying attention to anything else. So, Bugaboo, this looks like our cue!”

Marinette laughed, “Well Kitty, what’s stopping you?” They took off to transform in a nearby alley.

“Why were we rhyming?” Chat Noir asked as they ran toward the sounds of screaming.

“I have no idea,” Ladybug said with a grin. “Couldn’t help but finish what you started, I guess.”

He laughed. “Well in that case, let’s pick up the pace. We haven’t got any time to waste!” He pulled out his baton and levered away as Ladybug groaned and quickly took out her yoyo to catch up.

When they reached the Arc de Triomphe, the akuma was dive bombing traffic currently trapped on the Champs-Élysées. Ladybug blanched as she took in the sight of what looked like a large flying dinosaur.

“We should get closer. I can’t see where the butterfly is,” Chat suggested.

Ladybug nodded and threw her yoyo to the top of a building and pulled herself up to the roof. She ran and leaped along rooftops to get a better look. She glanced across to the other side of the busy road and saw Chat Noir running along the rooftops. When she got close enough to look at the akuma, she crouched behind a chimney so she could study it more covertly. Chat took the opposite approach, levering on his extended baton to the middle of the road, going eye level with the akuma.

“Hello there big fella! What seems to be the purrroblem?” he shouted.

“I’m Terrorsaur and you should talk to me with more respect. I’m tired of everyone treating me like I’m some kind of joke.” The akuma charged at Chat midair and he barely dodged out of the way in time to avoid a collision. “Come here you foolish cat,” the akuma screamed, dive bombing him as he raced off for cover. Ladybug noticed the akuma was wearing a pair of glasses. She looked around, searching for Chat. At that moment, his head popped up at the side of the roof.

“Hello milady! He said. “Any idea on where the butterfly is? Terrorsaur is pretty fast so I didn’t get enough time to look.”

“I saw glasses on its face when it dive bombed you,” Ladybug answered.

“Ah… Well, it’s fast and very strong. I’m not sure we should attack it head on,” Chat said.

Ladybug shook her head and grinned, “Are you rhyming again?!”

“Give me your miraculous!” Terrorsaur shrieked as it swooped around looking for them. Ladybug could see civilians cowering in their cars down below.

“We need to finish this quickly,” she said, calling her lucky charm. A polka dotted lasso fell into her hand. She scanned the area and two light posts on either side of the road lit up along with Chat. “Are you ready for a spaghetti western, dinosaur style?” she asked, playfully.

“Cannoli if I can help!” he grinned. “What purrrrpose might I serve milady?”

“I need you to go back across the street with the lasso to that light post,” she said, subtly gesturing at the one she wanted him to use. “I’m going to the light post on this side of the road with my yo-yo. I’m going to aim at his neck and I need you to take out its feet. Once we’ve hooked him on both sides, we need to brace our ropes on the light posts and pull as hard as we can. Hopefully the force of our movement will knock the glasses off as we get the akuma lower to the ground but if not…”

“I’ll grab them off its face if I have to,” Chat promised. “All right, let’s go!”

Quickly, she descended to her light post as Chat raced back across the street. He scaled halfway up the light post then nodded at her. Simultaneously, they cast at the akuma, Ladybug’s yoyo wrapping neatly around its neck while Chat’s lasso tightened over its feet, binding them together. Quickly, they both wrapped their ropes around the light posts and pulled as violently as they could. The akuma screeched, twisting in midair and attempting to right itself. Its glasses flew off and landed on the ground, shattering. Ladybug bolted toward the escaping purple butterfly as Chat leapt over to catch the falling akuma victim.

“Great job, Kitty!” Ladybug complimented him after purifying the butterfly. She took the lasso from him and threw it into the air, crying “Miraculous Ladybug!” Chat escorted the victim to the side of the road as the ladybugs repaired all the damage from the akuma.

“I’m so sorry,” the man wept, putting on his freshly repaired glasses. “I was at my university and the science department turned down my Masters Thesis proposal. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset but I’ve been working on it for months!”

“Did they give you any feedback?” Chat asked gently.

“Y-yeah but I was so angry, I didn’t even listen.”

“Maybe you should send an email thanking them for their feedback and ask for it in writing so you can consider how to apply it,” Chat suggested.

“That’s-- yeah-- that’s a good idea. Thanks Chat,” the man said, looking slightly calmer.

“Anytime!” he said. “Good luck!” He waved and walked over to Ladybug, offering his fist as he approached her. She bumped it with a smile.”

“Pound it!”

******

It was much later that evening when Marinette’s phone buzzed with a message. She had been industriously working on Adrien’s birthday presents, sewing everything together and watching the garments take shape. She picked up her phone and smiled as she saw Adrien’s name on the text notification.

Adrien: Hey Princess, u were amazing today! <3  
Marinette: Thank you, so were u! I was so impressed with how u handled dinosaur guy!

Adrien: Aw, thanks. :) Just wanted to let u know Natalie said I could hang out at yours 4 my bday.

Marinette: Wow! That is great news! Did u get any questions about it?

Adrien: Nope, she seemed really distracted. I heard her talking to Father about going out of town again. He sounded pissed off.

Marinette: Yikes. Did she say when?

Adrien: Nope. Will keep u posted. I’m going to get ready for bed. Miss u!

Marinette: Miss u 2!

Smiling, Marinette put her phone on the charger and went to get ready for bed.


	25. Chapter 25

It was very early in the morning when Adrien woke up to the sound of shouting somewhere nearby in the house. Bolting upright, he picked up his phone. It was 6:45am.

“What the hell?” he murmured. “Hey, Plagg?”

“Yeah, kid?” Plagg floated over. “Sounds like your dear old dad got up on the grumpy side of the bed this morning.”

“Did you hear what he was yelling about?”

“Whoever he was talking to was apparently speaking another language. He was screaming at them to speak in English but I guess maybe they didn’t or couldn’t because he ended the call.”

“Huh,” Adrien said, confused. “Well thanks for the info, Plagg. I’m going to stay out of his way.”

“Probably a good idea,” Plagg said, grinning. “Say, since you’re already up, you haven’t really said anything about what Marinette and Tikki told you the other day.”

“I said I was glad,” Adrien said defensively. “And I am! Also.. I have to assume you are familiar with that particular revelation?”

“Well, yeah… but I had kind of forgotten about it. It’s been awhile,” Plagg said grinning.

“How could you possibly forget about that?” Adrien asked.

“Wellll, until very recently I would have classified that as really unhelpful information considering your relationship with Ladybug up to a few weeks ago. And as much as I appreciate committing an impressive act of destruction, that doesn’t include my kittens.”

“Fair enough,” Adrien conceded. “You’re right Plagg, until fourish weeks ago that would have been a real mindfuck.”

Plagg snorted. “As opposed to the other kind,” he zipped away laughing. “Your _face_ … you look like Tikki, you're so red. Okay, okay.. I’ll stop… “ He stopped laughing although his tiny green eyes were still filled with mirth. “Anyway, I wish we could have waited a little longer for that information but once that emotional connection got stronger, you were bound to start asking questions.” Plagg said. “So really kid--and don’t you dare bullshit me-- is ‘glad’ really all you got?”

Adrien closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I-I know I’m really young and maybe I’m meant to be horrified that this part of my life seems so… definite… but… actually, I am fucking over the moon, I’m so happy. Is that wrong?”

Plagg’s brilliant eyes glittered inscrutably. “If that is what you feel, that’s what you feel, kid. There’s nothing wrong with being honest with yourself.”

*******

Several hours later, Adrien and Marinette were relaxing on the balcony and eating their lunch.

“What’s your schedule like tomorrow?” Marinette asked.

“Terrible,” Adrien complained. “Chinese lesson, Piano lesson, Fencing and a damned evening photoshoot.”

“Ugh,” Marinette said, looking disappointed. “How about Sunday?”

“Ummm,” he swiped to the next day on his phone. “Another piano lesson but that’s it! I’m going to text Natalie…” he trailed off, his fingers moving rapidly over his phone screen. He took another bite of his sandwich, waiting to see if she would reply. A minute later, his phone buzzed and he picked it up again. “Ah! ‘Terribly sorry Adrien but we couldn’t do the photo shoot on Sunday so your Saturday is fully booked. You are free to entertain yourself on Sunday apart from the extra piano lesson. Yesss!” he cheered and Marinette laughed. “The piano lesson is at 10 so I guess I can’t help at the bakery for most of the morning. I should be able to come around 11 and help til closing and then we can have the rest of the day together. What do you say bug?”

“I’d love that,” Marinette said softly, her eyes lighting up. “I’m going to get my homework done early so we can do something fun together!”

“Great idea. I’m stuck at home tonight so I may as well just get it done. So, what do you want to do on Sunday?”

“Well, this may not count as fun but I think we should check in with Wayzz after lunch, she said.

Adrien nodded. “We should definitely do that.”

“After that…” Marinette paused then lit up. “You know, there is something I’ve wanted to do with you for years!” She blushed, clearly remembering something. “I once got all my girl friends involved in a little mission where I was going to ask you out for a rickshaw ride and then that giant toddler akuma derailed my plans.”

Adrien laughed, remembering. “Lollipop kid!” he exclaimed.

Marinette laughed. “Perhaps you also remember me gabbling about cole slaw?” she asked, cringing at the memory.

He smiled, “I do remember that.” He shook his head. “Alya’s right. I was oblivious…”

“And I was an incomprehensible trainwreck!” she laughed. “Seriously, stop beating yourself up about it. There is plenty of blame to go around.”

He grinned and reached out to touch her face. “Or I suppose we could just stop blaming ourselves altogether.” 

“A much better idea,” she agreed. “So, want to go for a rickshaw ride on Sunday?” she asked.

“I’d love to,” he replied, kissing her softly.


	26. Chapter 26

On Sunday morning, Marinette got up early as usual to help her parents in the bakery. She quickly got ready and headed downstairs.

“Good morning!” Sabine greeted her as she passed an order over to a customer.

“Good morning, Maman,” Marinette said, putting on her apron and stepping behind the till. Once the customer was gone, Sabine made Marinette a coffee.

“What time is Adrien coming over again?” she asked.

“Around 11,” Marinette answered. “Also, Adrien’s birthday is on Saturday and he’d like a movie night with me, Alya and Nino. Can we do that here?”

“Of course, sweetie! I’ll tell Papa. I’ll bet he’d love to make Adrien a cake.”

“Adrien would like that a lot!” Marinette exclaimed, taking her coffee from Sabine. “Thanks Maman.”

The rest of the morning was very busy and Marinette decided to cut her breakfast break short so she didn’t leave her mother for too long.

“Thanks, Marinette,” Sabine said gratefully as she replaced her mother at the till.

The bakery was full of customers when Adrien came in. He waited patiently for everyone to clear out before going up to the till.

“Adrien!” Marinette said in surprise. “What’s with the hat?”

“New ads,” he said.

“What?”

Sighing, Adrien took her gently by the elbow and pulled her outside. He pointed at a large billboard. “They’re everywhere,” he moaned.

“Holy Shit,” Marinette breathed.

Adrien couldn’t help but laugh. He was pretty sure he had never heard her swear. “Like what you see?” he grinned.

“Not as good as the real thing,” she murmured. “Like you said, I prefer the picture of us together when you were wearing that suit. Although… you do look hot,” she said, glancing back at the billboard.

Adrien laughed. “Well, I guess I’m glad you think so,” he said with a wink. “Now I’m going to disappear into the kitchen before someone sees me and shares my whereabouts on Instagram.”

“Well, we better hurry back inside, Gorgeous!” Marinette teased him.

Tom found Adrien a baseball hat with the bakery logo on it and between that and his apron, Adrien felt disguised enough to come out and stock the display cases. As it got closer to 1pm, the customers dwindled and Sabine was able to lock up right on time.

“So, I didn’t know we were getting a preview of an ad campaign,” Tom teased Adrien while they were eating.

“Neither did I,” Adrien replied. “I never know what look they’re going to decide on. I did really like that suit though.”

“Did you get to keep it?” Sabine asked.

“No, I returned it to the stylist since she did me the favor of lending it to me. I have no idea what happens to those outfits.”

“Do you have any plans today?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, we’re going on a rickshaw ride together,” Adrien said.

“Won’t that be a bit public for you at the moment?” Sabine asked.

Adrien shrugged. “I’ve got some sunglasses and we’ll be tucked away so it should be fine. Plus this is the first time Marinette asked me out on a date so there’s no way I would cancel.”

“Goodness Adrien,” Sabine said as Marinette blushed. “You’re so sweet, you better watch out or I will keep you here with us forever!”

Adrien smiled softly. “I wouldn’t mind. I love it here.”

Tom sniffled. “Well son, we love having you here. I don’t believe anyone could be more deserving of my little macaron.” He gazed affectionately at his daughter, who blushed again.

“I’m glad you think so,” Adrien replied.

*****

After helping clean up, the two teens headed up to Marinette’s room. Once the door was shut, Marinette opened a large hat box, removed a few scarves and pulled out the Miraculous Box..

“Wow,” he whispered in awe.

Marinette carefully opened the box and they watched as all the compartments opened. Marinette pulled out the bracelet for Wayzz and put it on her wrist. Immediately, a green ball glowed and Wayzz burst out.

“Welcome Guardian,” Wayne greeted her solemnly. “And is this… Chat Noir? Tikki informed me that you had chosen to reveal your identities and that all was going well.”

“That’s correct, Wayzz,” Marinette said. “I felt that our partnership was in danger and we agreed to reveal ourselves.”

“I felt the energy charge. That can only mean you are… at the beginning of fulfilling your bond.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be asking this.. But what exactly is fulfilling our bond?” Adrien asked. 

“The emotional bond between soul mates is exceptionally powerful. When you understand and accept each other entirely, your bond will be fulfilled,” Wayzz answered.

“Can anyone else in the house feel that electricity when it occurs?” Marinette asked.

“No, it can only be felt by active Miraculous holders and the Kwamis in this Miracle box.”

“What about Hawk Moth?” Adrien asked.

“He would have to be in very close proximity. I can assure you that is not the case here in this building. That said, even if he felt the charge, he might not realize what it was. I don’t know how much knowledge he possesses about the history of the Miraculous. You should be very careful with your bond when you are anywhere else. I cannot guarantee it would be safe.”

“Does that mean I can’t kiss her in public?” Adrien asked, incredulously.

“Do you always feel the charge in those moments?” Wayzz asked, sceptically.

“Well, no…” he replied.

“There has to be a certain level of intent and surrender involved. The bond isn’t just affection,” Wayzz explained. “Do you have any other questions?”

“I was wondering if you could tell me why Master Fu decided to train me as Guardian. I’ve come to understand that a main miraculous holder has never been a Guardian before.”

Wayzz sighed. “Yes, I did remind him of that several times. He said you were too talented to ignore for the role. He was getting old and frail. When you helped restore the temple, I thought he might seek counsel from them to find an apprentice but he was too ashamed. If it’s any consolation, I think you are worthy of the position but I am aware that it is a very large burden added to the burden you already have of protecting and restoring Paris.”

“Can I help Ladybug in her role as Guardian? Adrien asked.

“Like Master Fu, Ladybug has the right to call on anyone she wishes for support. I can recognize by you joining her to open the box, she is demonstrating the desire for you to be of assistance.”

“Good,” Adrien nodded. “And do you consider it to be a good idea for us both to be involved? Will it make things more dangerous for any reason?”

“Only in the regard that the more people know a secret, the more risk of its exposure. I consider this limited in your cases. You have both demonstrated serious commitment to preserving the secrets of the Miraculous.”

“I promise, I will be as careful with this secret as I am my own Miraculous.” Adrien replied.

“I don’t want to keep you much longer Wayzz,” Marinette said. “At some point, I would like you to repeat the story of how Master Fu selected us.”

“Ah yes, that is quite a lengthy tale,” Wayzz said. “Perhaps we can do that another time.”

“Thank you. Goodbye for now, Wayzz,” Marinette said.

“Goodbye young Guardian.”

Marinette took off the bracelet and carefully placed it back in its cubby. She closed the box and placed it back in the hatbox before covering it with scarves and putting the lid on.

“You asked some good questions,” Marinette said. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he smiled. “Now, how much time do we have before we need to go?”

Marinette looked at her phone. “Twenty minutes… and I’ve already reserved it so it’s picking us up just outside.”

“Awesome!” Adrien exclaimed. “That’ll make it much easier for us to sneak away.”

“I think I’m going to change into something warmer,” Marinette said. “I’ll be right back.” She went to her closet and pulled out an oversized rose pink sweatshirt and black leggings before heading to the bathroom.

When she came back to the room, she had to giggle when she saw Adrien.

“What do you think?” he asked, striking a pose.

She took in his incognito look and laughed. The large gray hoodie was zipped to his neck. He had his baseball hat on again with the hood over it so his blonde hair was barely visible. Briefly he put on a pair of black Wayfarers to show her the complete look.

“Who are you and where’s my boyfriend?” she teased.

“Oh, he’s in here somewhere,” grinned Adrien.

“Are you hiding him in that ginormous hoodie?”

Adrien laughed and took off his sunglasses. “Shall we get going?” he asked, giving her a quick hug.

“I’m ready when you are, mystery boy.” she winked.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter today! I hope you enjoy it!

The rickshaw was waiting for them when they came outside. “Good afternoon, I assume you are Miss Dupain Cheng?” the driver asked.

“Yes sir,” Marinette answered, pulling out her phone to show him the reservation details. He nodded.

“Welcome aboard, do you want the typical tour or is there somewhere you had in mind?” the driver asked.

Marinette smiled. “The typical tour is fine, thank you.”

Adrien helped her in before climbing in after her. “This is cozy,” he remarked, happily wrapping his arm around her and squeezing her to him. She turned her head and smiled up at him. They felt the slight lurch as the driver started to pedal, pulling out onto the side of the road. Adrien looked down at Marinette’s smiling face and leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

They sat quietly for a while, enjoying the breeze and the familiar landmarks of Paris. As they passed the Arch de Triomphe, Adrien grinned.

“Looking a lot more civilized than it did the other day,” he remarked.

The driver laughed. “I take it you saw what happened with the akuma?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Marinette answered. “We’re good friends with the girl who runs the Ladybug and she’s absolutely fearless when it comes to getting footage of akuma attacks. She’s gonna end up being a warzone journalist someday, I think.”

“She kind of is already,” the driver pointed out, grimly. “I don’t know what that Hawk Moth has against our beautiful city but his years of terror have really taken a toll. I appreciate everything our heroes do but I sure wish this would come to an end.”

“Me too,” Adrien agreed.

“At any rate, pass on my regards to your friend. My daughter, Caro, is a huge fan. She follows her on Instagram and everything.

“I’ll do that,” Marinette promised. “That will really make Alya’s day.” The driver nodded and pedalled on, heading toward the Seine. Soon the Eiffel Tower was in view.

Adrien gave Marinette another squeeze. “This was a great idea. It’s so peaceful somehow.”

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I’m enjoying it too.” she replied.

Adrien withdrew the arm he had around her and took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. The rickshaw continued to make its way along the Seine. Adrien quietly held Marinette’s hand, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “I love you,” he murmured in her ear. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

She looked up at him again. “I love you too,” she said quietly. “Just spending time with you like this makes me so happy.”

Soon they were passing the Louvre. “Getting close to home,” Marinette commented. “Do you want to stay for dinner tonight?”

“Definitely,” Adrien said. “Thank you for the invitation. I love spending time with you and your family.”

Marinette blushed at his heartfelt tone. “I am really glad to see you getting along so well with my parents.”

The rickshaw passed the Notre-Dame and soon the bakery was in sight. The driver pulled over next to the door. “Thank you Miss Dupain Cheng for your booking. I hope you enjoyed it!”

“Very much!” Marinette exclaimed as Adrien handed a folded Euro note to the driver.

“Thank you sir!” he said with a smile as he grabbed Marinette around the waist and lifted her easily from the rickshaw.

“Hey, this was my treat!” Marinette protested.

“Aw, I just wanted to give him a tip!” Adrien said, pulling her close. He waved and the driver nodded and pulled away as the couple walked into the bakery. Sabine was by herself so Adrien took off his hoodie and folded it over his arm.

“Sunglasses,” Marinette reminded him.

“I forgot,” he laughed, taking them off. “No wonder it was so dark.” He pulled off the baseball hat and ran a hand through his hair.

“Did you two enjoy yourselves?” Sabine asked.

“It was really nice,” Marinette said with a smile.

“So peaceful,” Adrien agreed. “I mean there was traffic everywhere as usual but being in the rickshaw made it feel separate somehow.”

“Sounds nice. Perhaps I’ll have to convince Tom to go on a ride with me sometime,” Sabine smiled. “Adrien, are you able to stay for dinner?”

“Yes, Marinette just invited me and I’d love to stay if that’s all right.”

“It’s absolutely fine,” Sabine assured him.

“We’re going to my room for awhile, Maman. Let me know if you need me for anything.” Marinette said.

“I will. See you two later,” Sabine replied.

Once they were back in Marinette’s room, Adrien dumped his hoodie and cap on the desk along with his sunglasses. The Kwami flew off together, phasing out to the balcony. Adrien watched them disappear then pulled Marinette to him and kissed her fervently. “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I got here,” he told her when he pulled away. “I feel like I’m under a spotlight though and I don’t want to draw too much attention to us when we’re in public yet. And actually, I want to talk to you about that.” He led her to the chaise and sat down, patting the space in front of him. Smiling, she sat down and leaned back against his chest.

“So what did you want to talk about?” she asked.

“I’ve been weighing up telling Father about us and I don’t know what the right thing to do is. He’s been strange and distracted lately and what’s more, it seems to involve Natalie more and more. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy they aren’t paying attention to me at the moment, well… for the most part. But… I can’t tell what they’d do if I told them I had a girlfriend. Previously, I know if I didn’t say anything and they found out, it would be really bad. Right now, I can’t decide which would be worse or if they even care.”

“Have you talked to your father lately?” Marinette asked.

“Very, very briefly on the tablet a couple of times over the last week,” he answered.

Marinette felt the familiar twinge in her heart that happened every time Adrien casually mentioned the neglect he suffered at home. She sat in thought. She couldn’t begin to imagine a home life like this. “I feel like I’m not remotely qualified to give you any advice,” she confessed. “Might it be better to talk to Natalie about it first?”

“I don’t know. That is definitely what I would have done a few years ago but now… I’m not sure I trust her.”

“Ok… well… you might not like my second idea but… maybe we should discuss this with my parents at dinner?”

“That’s a good idea actually!” Adrien brightened. “If I tell them about all the things I’m afraid he might do, maybe they can help me think through what I can do in response.”

“I’m glad you like the idea. There are so many things we can’t get help with but this shouldn’t be one of them.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes. Adrien ran his hands up and down Marinette’s arms, idly.

“Lay down with me,” she said suddenly.

Adrien paused. “What, do you mean here?”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “I… I want to see your face.”

He smiled. “You’re going to have to show me what you mean,” he said.

Marinette got up to sit next to him, then laid on her side facing him.

“Aah,” he slid down facing her, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her to him. “Is this what you had in mind?”

“Yeah,” she smiled happily.

He kissed her lips gently. “You are so beautiful,” he said softly, stroking her back. She kissed him back. 

“So are you,” she replied, nuzzling his nose with hers. “That feels so nice, you, stroking my back,” she said. He smiled and kissed her lightly again. A thought occurred to her. “Here,” she murmured, pulling on one of his hands and sliding it under her sweatshirt so he was touching her back. His eyes widened as his fingers tentatively trailed over her skin.

“Are-are you sure?” he asked.

“As long as you’re comfortable,” she said shyly.

“This is really nice,” he assured her.

“You-you can stroke my back like you were doing before… if you want…” she trailed off.

“Really? I can move my hand up that much?

“I trust you,” she said simply.

He sighed blissfully, feeling the softness of her skin. He gently trailed his hand up her back until his fingers brushed the edge of her bra. “Are you sure this is ok?” he asked, breathlessly. She nodded and buried her face in his shoulder.

“It feels really good,” she murmured.

He drew his other arm tighter, pulling her closer yet. “I’m glad you trust me this much,” he whispered as he stroked all the way up to her shoulder blades and back down again.

“Mmmm,” she hummed and kissed his neck.

Adrien shivered and his hand went still. “Please do that again,” he whispered.

Marinette nuzzled his neck and kissed it again. She could feel his fingers suddenly digging into her back. She gave the corner of his neck a long, lingering kiss and suddenly the electricity was back, suffusing the room in its peculiar energy. 

The teens pulled apart, looking apprehensive. “I’d feel a lot better if I knew exactly what that energy meant and if it’s going to hurt someone or not.” Adrien said, looking worried.

Tikki and Plagg suddenly phased back through the hatch door of the balcony. 

“Don’t worry, Adrien,” Tikki said, comfortingly. “It won’t hurt you or anyone else. Your bond brings balance. I have seen this before and it’s never caused any harm, at least in your civilian form. My previous holders never told me if it was used for anything while they were transformed.”

“Do you think there is anything in the Grimoire about it?” Marinette asked.

“Maybe. You cannot tell me if you discover it. Imagine the harm if I was forced to serve someone with ill intent like poor Nooroo.” Tikki said, shivering.

“I understand,” she replied quietly.

“Where is the Grimoire exactly?” Adrien asked.

“It’s all digital,” Marinette answered. “On my computer.”

“I’d like to see it,” Adrien said. “Master Fu told me about it when he explained the power-ups.”

Marinette looked at her phone. “Can you stay after dinner?” she asked.

“Sure, for a little while anyway.”

“Ok, I’ll show it to you then,” she promised. “For now, how about we go downstairs? We can help set up for dinner.”

Twenty minutes later, Adrien, Marinette and her parents were all sitting around the table.

“Well, we didn’t get any swarms of fans trying to break down our doors, so I’m assuming your disguise worked,” Tom teased Adrien.

“Glad to hear it. After the way I got chased when the perfume ad came out, I never know what to expect,” he said.

“I can’t imagine what it must be like getting that much attention at your age,” Tom chuckled.

“The worst part about it is all the pressure it creates. My father has created this image of me that is directly linked with his company. There is always the chance of someone seeing me somewhere and taking a picture. And there are just so many things my father doesn’t think I should be doing.” Adrien sighed. “Anyway, I guess that actually leads to something I wanted to ask your advice about.”

“Of course! What can we do for you, son?” Tom exclaimed.

“Well,” Adrien began, looking down self-consciously. “I would like to be more public with my relationship with Marinette but it would not be good if my Father found out about us indirectly, However, I’m really worried about what he’ll do if I tell him.”

“What do you think he could do?” Sabine asked.

“Take me out of school… try to force me to end the relationship… maybe keep me completely housebound… all of the above.” Adrien replied.

“Do you really think that’s likely?” Tom asked.

“It’s certainly possible. He’s pulled me out of school before and he’s worked to prevent friendships he didn’t approve of.”

“Marinette, we all met Mr. Agreste at that fashion show, didn’t we?” Sabine reminded them.

“That’s right!,” Adrien said, lighting up. “Marinette made the hat I was wearing. Father was really impressed with you.”

“I met him again after that… I’m not sure how impressed he is with me now.” Marinette said glumly.

“Wait, when was that?

“I’ll tell you about it later,” she said quietly. “It was quite a while ago now.”

Sabine and Tom exchanged a look. They knew what their daughter had been like when it came to Adrien.

“Well,” Tom said slowly. “I’m afraid I do think you should tell your father. Absolutely no good will come of him finding out elsewhere.”

“Yeah,” Adrien said. “The more I think about it, the more I think there really are no other options.”

“I don’t think you should do this on your own though,” Tom added. “I think you should tell that assistant of his to schedule a meeting for you and Marinette to tell him together.”

“Are-are you sure about that?” Adrien said, his face going pale.

“I’m afraid so, Adrien. If you go by yourself, he’s not going to see you two as a partnership and it will be much easier for him to get between you. If it’s helpful, by all means tell him we can all meet up together but… I understand if that’s not feasible. My own father was pretty controlling when I was your age so I know there’s only so much you can do.” Tom chuckled wryly.

“And Adrien, if your father… overreacts, just come straight here. Maybe as adults we will be able to make him see reason.” Sabine added.

“Thanks Sabine, thank you, Tom,” Adrien replied gratefully. “I really appreciate your advice. And you’re right. As much as I want to protect Marinette, I won’t be doing her any favors if I keep her out of the conversation.”

******

After helping clear up dinner, the two teens went back to Marinette’s room. She went straight to her computer and switched it on. Adrien smiled as her desktop came up with its lock screen collage of images.

“You should send me that one,” he said, pointing to the picture her Maman had taken before their 2nd date as he pulled up a little stool to sit on.

“Yeah, I’ll do that right now,” she took out her phone and quickly texted it to him. Then she logged onto her computer and pulled up a folder that she had buried in a random directory. She opened the document inside and Adrien gasped in surprise.

“This is the Grimoire? I know these pictures. This book belongs to my Father!”

“I know,” Marinette said. “I’m so sorry. Tikki saw you had it and said Master Fu needed to see it. So I took it to him. I got you into so much trouble.”

“But… how did Father get it back?”

“I brought it to him. I acted as clueless as possible and like I was just an obsessed fan of yours. I wanted to take as much blame from you as I could so he’d let you go back to school.”

“Oh, Marinette,” Adrien breathed in complete awe. “The more I learn about you, the more I realize you are Ladybug right to the core. I can’t believe you did that for me.”

“I’m glad I did but I hope that doesn’t make me look like some psycho-fan if I come with you. I can’t exactly say the real reason I took it.”

“So what did Master Fu say about all that… you know finding the book?”

“To be honest, he thought whoever had the Grimoire would also have the butterfly and the peacock miraculous since they were all lost at the same time.”

“Oh my god,” Adrien said quietly. “He thought my Father was… Hawk Moth?”

“Yes,” sighed Marinette. “I told you at the time, remember?”

Adrien sat back suddenly, connecting that conversation with the disappearance of the book. “And then Father got akumatized… does that mean he can’t be Hawk Moth?”

“Master Fu said it was improbable but not impossible. I-I haven’t seen anything that links him to Hawk Moth since.”

“Well I guess that is something. The chance of my father being the supervillain of Paris is… unlikely” Adrien said bitterly.

“I’m so sorry, Adrien. I wish I never had to tell you any of this,” Marinette apologized, looking miserable.

“Don’t be sorry, Marinette. You have been so brave, trusting me with this knowledge. I promise I won’t let you down.” he said, stroking her hair out of her face.

“I’d trust you with anything,” Marinette said softly.

They looked at each other silently for a moment.

“I can promise you this as well,” he said quietly. “No one had to tell me that we were soulmates for me to know that you were all I ever wanted.”

Marinette looked at him, tears filling her eyes.

Adrien smiled. “But it’s always nice when an ancient being confirms what you already knew in your heart.” He leaned over and kissed her gently before breaking away, “I hate to say this but I need to get going… I guess we’ll have to look through the Grimoire some other time.”

“Ok, I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” Marinette said.

“I’m gonna call Gorilla. Will you wait outside with me?” he asked.

“Of course.”

**********

They sat on a bench near the bakery, watching for Adrien’s bodyguard. It was too dark for Adrien’s sunglasses so he pulled his cap lower over his eyes.

“If your father ends up being...ok with this, will you still wear a disguise?” she asked.

“Good question. I mean, that is part of the motivation but I also don’t want us to be chased. You remember that one time, I’m sure…” he sighed fondly. “You even went to a movie with me in your pajamas.”

Marinette blushed. “Me and my pajamas, huh? It’s a wonder I’m ever properly dressed.”

Adrien grinned. “You can wear pajamas to school. I promise I won’t mind!” 

Marinette laughed. “Be careful what you wish for,” she winked. “Looks like your ride is here.” she added as Gorilla pulled up.

Adrien grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I’ll text you later before I go to bed,” he promised.


	28. Chapter 28

“Marinette?”

“Hmmm.. wha?” Marinette was pretty sure she hadn’t just imagined Adrien’s voice. _‘What time is it? Did my alarm go off?’ she wondered to herself._

“Marinette! Wake up sleepy bug!”

Going into panic mode, she sat up quickly. “Am I Iate? What time is it? Adrien?” her head swivelled around wildly.

“Don’t worry, you’re not late,” he laughed. “I just wanted to tell you something before school.”

“Ok.” she said, scooting over to the ladder. 

“Don’t freak out but…” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “I talked to Natalie this morning about us and she immediately went and got Father…”

“I guess you are here in one piece, so that’s promising,” Marinette said.

“I… I told him I wanted to introduce him to my new girlfriend and… and he asked about… well… who you were. I told him your name… He wants to have lunch with us… today.”

“Today?!” yelped Marinette. “I haven’t had any time to prepare! What if he remembers me as idiot stalker girl? What if-” her panicky spiral was interrupted by Adrien.

“Bug, it’s ok! Maybe it’s better to just get this over with. I’ll be there too, remember?” he said comfortingly. “The main reason I’m here early is so I could warn you to… dress up. I think you should wear the dress you wore for our second date. He should see you in one of your amazing designs.”

Marinette nodded slowly. “That’s a good idea. I think it would help me feel more confident.”

“That’s the spirit,” he kissed her cheek tenderly. “Can I hang out here while you get ready or will I be in the way?”

“No, please stay. Maybe that will keep me from freaking out again,” she smiled ruefully.

Adrien smiled and settled himself on the chaise with his phone while she ran around her room putting the outfit from their dinner back together again and choosing different accessories. Quickly, she went off to take a shower and returned ten minutes later fully dressed but still drying her hair.

Adrien looked up when she came in and his eyes softened. “You look so pretty, Marinette.”

“Thanks,” she said, her cheeks turning bright pink. She twisted her still damp hair into a ballerina bun and secured it with some sparkly hair pins. Then she pulled out her little mirror and started putting on makeup. She decided to apply matte black eyeliner instead of copper to go with the black shoes and black bag she had swapped in for the original copper accessories. Adrien watched in awe as she skillfully flicked the eyeline out at the corners of her eyes. Once she was happy with her makeup, she slid on the black chunky heeled platforms and grabbed a small black crossbody bag. She transferred the contents of her regular purse to it and waited for Tikki to fly in, clutching a macaron. Then she grabbed her backpack and turned towards Adrien. “What do you think?” she said, striking a pose.

He grinned. “Beautiful as always. Shall we go, Princess?” he asked, lifting the trap door and holding out his arm.

Marinette slipped her arm around his elbow. “Indeed we shall!”

*****

“I see you are wearing your blue dress again,” Sabrine observed. “What’s the occasion?”

“I told Father this morning that I wanted him to meet Marinette and he said we should see him for lunch today.” Adrien said nervously. “I thought it would be a good idea if Marinette wore something she designed.

“I hope it goes well for you both,” Sabrine said, looking at Marinette’s anxious expression. “Don’t worry Marinette, you’ll be just fine.”

******

“Wow, Marinette, what are you so dressed up for?” Alya said after running up to greet them as they approached the school.

“We’re meeting Mr. Agreste for lunch today,” Marinette explained, looking rather sick.

“Big yikes, bro,” Nino said as he clapped Adrien on the back. “How do you think he’ll take it?”

“I have no idea,” Adrien admitted. “I told him this morning about wanting to introduce her and he said he wanted to meet her today.”

“Wow, he’s keen. Good luck you two!” Alya grinned.

*******

Marinette had never been more sorry to hear the lunch bell ring. It felt like she was about to face ten akumas at once and as Marinette, not Ladybug.

_‘I am Ladybug,’_ she thought. _‘I can do this.’_

“Ready to go?” Adrien asked, interrupting her internal pep talk.

Marinette mustered a small smile, “As much as I can be.”

“It’s gonna be ok,” he reassured her as he led her out to the car.

The whole way to the Agreste mansion, Marinette kept wishing for some minor misfortune. Maybe a blown tire or a traffic jam… but the trip was mercilessly brief and all too soon she was forcing her shaking legs across the long stretch of pavement and up to the front door. It opened as they were approaching.

“Right on time,” Natalie said approvingly. “I think we’ve met before. Miss Dupain Cheng? Is that correct?”

“Yes ma'am, you can call me Marinette if you like,” Marinette said.

Natalie nodded, “Very well, Marinette. Both of you, please come with me.”

They followed her to the formal dining room. The table was set for three but no one was there yet.

“Please take your seats. Mr. Agreste will be with you shortly.”

Obediently, they nodded and sat down next to each other, waiting for Adrien’s father to appear. They were waiting only a few minutes when Gabriel strode into the room.

“Good afternoon, Adrien. Thank you for being so prompt,” he said.

“Thank you, Father,” he replied, surprised by his father’s cordial tone. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Marinette Dupain Cheng.”

“I feel like I’ve met you before, Miss Dupain Cheng,” Gabriel said.

“Adrien and I are classmates,” Marinette said. “We’ve been friends since he joined Francoise Dupon High School.”

“Ah, I also feel like you may have been the winner of my Derby Hat Challenge,” he stated.

“Yes sir, that’s correct,” Marinette replied, nervously.

“And are you still designing things?” he asked.

“Yes, all the time. I’m wearing one of my designs right now,” she responded.

Gabriel nodded. “Very good, so how long have you two been… together?”

“About four weeks,” Adrien said.

Gabriel sighed. “I guess I can’t complain that I didn’t know sooner. I’ve been out of town with Natalie quite a bit lately. Are your parents aware of this relationship Miss Dupain Cheng?”

“Yes, they are and please sir, call me Marinette.”

“Very well. Now, I don’t have any particular issues with this relationship at this time. I would rather have known sooner but I can see that you have been fulfilling your responsibilities, Adrien. I called the school this morning and your performance there has been faultless as well. As long as that continues, I will not forbid this relationship. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir,” Adrien said, doing his best to stay composed although he felt a wild impulse to swing Marinette around and laugh hysterically.

“Thank you sir,” Marinette said. “I assure you, I don’t intend to prevent Adrien from his responsibilities.”

Gabriel nodded in approval. At that moment, the meal was delivered. Marinette and Adrien waited for Gabriel to start before they began eating. The trio ate in silence. Marinette still felt overcome with nerves, like something could change at any moment.

When Gabriel was finished, he put his napkin down and looked at Adrien. “I wanted to let you know my plans for a business trip have been finalized. I’m afraid I will be gone from Friday to Tuesday which means I will not be here for your birthday. Natalie said you have plans for that day.

Adrien nodded, scarcely believing his own luck. ”Yes, sir.”

As Gabriel rose from his seat, Marinette and Adrien followed his lead. Gabriel stopped to study Marinette as she stood before him, grateful for the three inch heels she was wearing.

“So you made this yourself?” he asked, his expression inscrutable.

“Yes sir. I had been wanting to work with organza for a while when this idea came to me,” she explained.

“It’s very well executed. I recognized your talent at my little competition but this is far more advanced work. You’ve done well.”

“Thank you sir. That is quite a compliment, coming from you,” Marinette said with a small, pleased smile.

“I will let you two get back to school now. I need to get back to my work.”

“Thank you Father for taking the time to see us,” Adrien said.

“You are welcome,” he replied before heading back to his office.

It was all Adrien could do not to pick Marinette up and race to the car just in case his father turned around and reversed everything he had said. When they got in the car, they both exhaled loudly and then laughed.

“I do not understand what the hell happened in there but I am asking no questions,” Adrien said, still laughing in relief. “I think perhaps you are my extra special lucky charm, Marinette.” He hugged her tightly. “You were amazing. You just seemed to know exactly what to say.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Marinette said shyly.

“Oh, I know so… you must have charmed him… he hasn’t said anything that positive in months. And absolutely no complaint about me withholding information for four weeks.”

“Maybe he feels bad for being so detached lately,” Marinette reasoned.

“Lately? The only thing different right now is he seems to forget he has a son rather than micromanaging me. Not that I mind… I can even take the random screaming phone calls in the morning if it means he isn’t screaming at me.”

“Wait, what?” Marinette asked as the car pulled up in front of the school.

“I’ve heard him yelling on the phone really loudly a couple of times in the last few days. First time was early Friday morning and then on Saturday morning too.”

“Weird,” Marinette said as they got out of the car.

“Yeah, it is weird,” Adrien agreed. “On a different subject, I hope you caught the details of Father’s plans for the end of the week,” he smiled a hopeful smile.

Marinette laughed. “I did as a matter of fact and I’m looking forward to it already!”

The rest of the day was relatively dull which was a welcome relief after all the earlier stress. When the final bell rang, Adrien gathered up his stuff. 

“See you later, Princess. I have to head for fencing.”

Marinette nodded. “What else do you have tonight?”

“Evening photoshoot,” he answered.

“Guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow then,” she said.

Adrien grinned and kissed the side of her head. “I can keep up with Father’s demands if I get to see you with his blessing.”

“All right. I better not make you late then. See you later!” she said, giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.


	29. Chapter 29

It was late at night and Adrien woke up with a start. Someone had grabbed his arms and was holding them down so tightly, it was starting to hurt.

“Hey! Who are you? You’re hurting me!” his drowsiness was quickly being replaced by panic as he tried to focus on who was in his room. “Father? Why are you-”

“Four weeks! You thought you could keep something like this from me for four weeks!”

“We-we talked about this Father…” Adrien winced as his father’s thumbs pushed even more painfully into his arms.

“We talked about this with Marinette. Now I’m talking to you, just the two of us,” his father’s tone was angry and unsteady.

Adrien felt a cold rush of fear. He had never seen or heard his father like this and after the relatively pleasant meal they had shared less than twenty-four hours ago, this was extremely disconcerting.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner,” Adrien said as calmly and respectfully as he could. “I appreciate how… considerate you were of Marinette.”

“Just remember this,” Gabriel hissed. “I have an image I can convey as I wish to anyone who needs to see it.”

“Well, sir I would let go of my arms if you wish to preserve your image or I’m going to have bruises at my next photoshoot,” Adrien said, again using his most calm and reasonable tone.

“I can cancel photoshoots,” his father growled, but he removed his hands. “Remember what I said,” and he stalked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Adrien sat up and rubbed his aching arms. His heart was pounding hard and he took deep, gasping breaths, trying to calm down.

“Kid, are you all right?” Plagg said, zipping over.

“Not really,” he said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

“You’re going to tell Marinette about this, right? She needs to know.”

“As soon as I can, I will,” he promised. “I just don’t understand why…”

“I think your father wanted to demonstrate how easily he can switch from a civilized person to a maniac. I suppose he figures with no witnesses, who would believe you? Too bad for him, I saw the whole thing. I have excellent night vision after all,” Plagg fumed.

“Yeah, but who can you tell apart from me?” Adrien asked.

“I can tell Marinette. I can tell Tikki. Hell, I can tell a few Kwamis and we can recruit some Miraculous Holders to go kick his ass in the middle of the night since he seems to think that’s a cool thing to do,” he hissed, angrily.

“You, you are really pissed off about this…” 

“Of course I am! That piece of shit doesn’t get to hurt my fucking kitten. Maybe I should just go cataclysm his ass…”

“Stay here, Plagg. There’s no telling what he’d do if he saw you,” Adrien said.

At that moment, the akuma alert chimed on Adrien’s phone.

“Ugh, really?” whined Plagg. “Two assholes in one night. What is this?”

“Well, at least I’ll get to see Marinette. Plagg, claws out!”

*******

“Hey Kitty,” Ladybug said, yawning. “Welcome to the party.”

Adrien slipped into his extra… well just extra persona as Chat Noir. “Oooh, thanks for the infurtation. What’s the occasion?” he grinned, twirling his baton around.

She grinned. “I think it’s another kid having a nightmare. He seems to be embracing it, got a whole army of monsters or something.” She pointed down below.

Chat glanced down from the roof they were standing on and saw the akuma, who was definitely child-sized. “I see he’s dressed like a clown… a really creepy clown controlling a bunch of monsters… pawesome. Do you know where he’s hiding Hawk Moth’s little purrresent?”

Ladybug laughed. “I’m not sure yet. He has a lot of accessories, being a clown.”

“Well, let’s hop to it,” Chat said, leaping to the nearest light post. Ladybug followed, swinging to the awning of a hotel nearby.

The akuma spotted them and lurched over. At that moment, they realized he wasn’t on his own feet, but standing on a pair of huge, black millipedes. “My name is Nightmare Fuel and bad dreams don’t scare me! I can make scarier things by myself and scare everyone else! Now give me your Miraculous!”

“Nightmare Fuel is right,” Chat grumbled to himself. “As if I needed more of that.” He studied the akuma carefully and noticed he was wearing a large fake flower on his chest. “Did this kid go to bed dressed as a clown?” he asked himself. “No wonder he’s having nightmares.” He signalled to Ladybug and tapped his chest in the place where the akuma was wearing the flower. He saw her eyes shift to the akuma then she looked at him and nodded.

Suddenly, the akuma turned and noticed Chat and before he could react, the akuma sprayed a noxious purple liquid out of the flower. He felt it barely graze his leg as he tried to leap away but that was enough for him to feel its paralyzing effect as he slid down from the light post. He heard Ladybug scream, “Chat!” as he slumped to the ground.

******

Ladybug watched, horrified as the akuma sprayed Chat. She couldn’t tell if he was unconscious or paralyzed or both… ‘ _or worse_ ’ the unwelcome thought flashed through her mind. She quickly called for her lucky charm and received a giant roll of sticky paper. Glancing around, she saw the pillar on the awning she was standing on light up along with the light post that Chat was slumped against. She unpeeled one end of her roll of paper and neatly wrapped it around the base of the pillar. She threw her yoyo to Chat’s light post and zoomed past the akuma as it was trying to approach his still form. As she landed, she yanked the sticky paper trail right under the millipedes, causing them to grind to a halt as their many legs got stuck. The akuma tried to squirt her but she zinged her yoyo at him as hard as she could, knocking him off the millipedes and onto the sticky paper. As several of his monsters tried to defend the akuma, she yanked the rest of the backing off the sticky paper and threw it at them. As they flailed around, trying to avoid getting caught as well, she threw her yoyo at the squirty flower on the akuma and broke it. To her relief, the purple butterfly flew out and she quickly caught and purified it. 

As the akumatized form dropped from the child, she balled up the sticky paper and managed to throw it before it stuck to her. “Miraculous Ladybug!” she yelled, feeling more and more frantic about Chat, who was still slumped on the ground. As the Miraculous flooded the area, Ladybug exhaled in relief as Chat started to move around. 

As the akuma regained his awareness, he burst into tears. “I hurt Chat Noir!” he wailed, clutching his now repaired squirty flower. Ladybug rushed over to the child as Chat Noir stiffly got to his feet, shaking his hands in an effort to get rid of the pins and needles feeling in them.

“It’s ok! See, my little ladybugs helped him!” she said, hugging the child and stroking his hair. “He’s not mad at you. This wasn’t your fault. This was Hawkmoth’s fault.”

“She’s right,” Chat added as he came over, his voice feeling strange and hoarse. “I promise I’m not angry with you. Hawk Moth likes to use other people to be mean to us. We think he’s terrible but we feel bad for the people he uses.” The little boy nodded, looking at them both in awe.

“Ladybug you should head home,” Chat said. “You’re about to transform. I have time since I didn’t use cataclysm.” She nodded and offered her fist to him, her eyes full of relief. He smiled reassuringly and bumped it with his own, “Pound it!”

“Ok, kid, can you tell me how to get to your house?” Chat asked as the child clung to his neck, riding piggy back style on his back.

“Yes, it’s not very far,” the child said shyly. “Go down this street here,” he pointed to the right and Chat obediently jogged in that direction.

“What’s your name?” Chat asked as he started jogging a bit faster.

“Michel,” the little boy said softly.

“All right, Michel. I think I see your parents,” he said, seeing a man and woman waving frantically at him.

“Don’t worry, he’s all right!” Chat called, picking up more speed. He could see their expressions changing to relief as he approached them. “Are these your parents, Michel? He asked. Michel nodded and Chat crouched down to let him climb off his back. He turned to the little boy and said softly, “Don’t worry, you didn’t hurt me. I was strong enough to run here with you, wasn’t I?”

“Yes Chat Noir, I’m glad I got to meet you,” Michel smiled and hugged him.

Chat nodded to his parents before giving Michel a little bow and waving goodbye. Grabbing his baton, he extended it to push up on a rooftop and headed home.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to let you all know, I am already working on the third part of the series. There will be more to come after this part of the story!

Adrien got up early, having barely slept for the rest of the night. Tiredly, he slunk into the shower and tried to wake himself up. He looked at the spots on his arms where his father had held him down. The bruising was subtle but definitely visible. Sighing, he got out of the shower and went to brush his teeth and get dressed. He was walking out the door when Natalie came to make sure he was awake.

“You’re up early,” she said in surprise.

“I got a wake-up call,” he said, gazing into her eyes. Seeing only confusion, he dropped his gaze.

“Would you like some breakfast?” she called as he walked away. Without turning back, he pulled out an energy bar and opened it.

“I’ve got the time so I’m going to walk to school,” he said quietly.

“Adrien! You know you can’t do that!” she exclaimed. “I’ll call Gorilla. Wait here.”

He leaned against the wall, waiting for her to say he could go. After a few minutes, she nodded. “Gorilla is outside, waiting for you.”

“Thanks, Natalie,” he said and headed for the front door.

Gorilla nodded at him as he got into the car. “Can you take me to Marinette’s?” he asked. “I have plenty of time before school starts.” Gorilla nodded again and pulled away from the curb.”

******

When they pulled to a stop outside the bakery, Adrien got out and waved Gorilla off. The bakery was open and there were a few customers being served so he waited patiently for them to leave before greeting Sabine.

“Hello Adrien, you are very early this morning.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he explained and Sabine noticed the dark shadows under his eyes.

“What’s the matter dear?” she asked, concerned.

“Can… can I talk to Tom?” he asked.

“Of course, go right on in,” she gestured at the kitchen.

“Hello son, what can I do for you?” Tom said as Adrien walked in. Adrien felt the familiar warm feeling he got when Tom called him ‘ _son_ ’ wash over him.

“I am guessing Marinette told you about our lunch meeting yesterday,” Adrien began.

“She did,” Tom confirmed. “I’m glad it went well.”

“I was glad too,” Adrien said. “I honestly didn’t expect it. But… my father woke me up late last night and was… completely different about it.” Adrien took off the long-sleeved button down shirt he was wearing loose over his t-shirt. Tom’s eyes were immediately drawn to the light bruises above the insides of his elbows.

“Adrien,” he breathed. “Did he do this to you? Did he say anything?” Tom rushed over and put his arm around Adrien’s shoulder.

“He was angry that I waited so long to tell him,” Adrien said, leaning against Tom. “I asked why he was so angry when before he didn’t seem to mind. He… he said that was for Marinette’s benefit and his… public image…” Adrien glanced up and saw the shock and horror on Tom’s face. “He said he had an image he could convey to others if he needed to. It was like he didn’t think anyone would believe me.”

“I do believe you, Adrien,” Tom said. “What do you want to do?”

“For now… nothing,” Adrien replied.

“Are you sure about that?” Tom asked quietly.

“I… I stayed calm and he left. I… don’t want to escalate this… what would I do if it… got worse?” Adrien asked.

“Son, what he did is illegal. You don’t have to live with this, waiting to see if it will happen again.”

“I know… but I’m not confident the law would help enough right now.”

Tom sighed. “I understand what you mean. It could be like provoking a hornets nest and if they don’t work quickly, you are stuck inside it.”

“Exactly… and if I tread more carefully, maybe he’ll just go back to leaving me alone. Tom… I told you this so you would know.. I trust you and I didn’t want to feel so… isolated.”

“You can always trust me, Adrien. If I feel like I have to escalate this as you say… I promise I would never do that until you were here, safe.”

“Ok,” Adrien said. “I need to go tell Marinette now.”

“Go on ahead, son. I’ll see you later.”

*****

Marinette heard a knock on her door as she was getting dressed. “Just a minute,” she called.

“It’s me.”

“Adrien? Hang on,” she buttoned her gray skinny jeans and smoothed down her blue velvet t-shirt. Then she opened the door to let him in. “Hi, sorry to keep you waiting. I was just getting dressed. Maman told me you were here.”

“I was just talking to your Papa about something that happened last night.”

Marinette’s eyes flew open. “Wait, what?!”

Looking at her alarmed face, he thought back. “Oh no, not that, sorry. My night was pretty terrible, that’s for sure. I’m sorry about the akuma thing. I wasn’t exactly on my A game after everything else.”

“Why, what happened?” she asked.

“His asshole father assaulted him in the middle of the night,” Plagg interjected, zipping out of Adrien’s shirt pocket. 

“He… what? Adrien, what happened?” 

“I woke up and he was holding me down by my arms. He was really angry I waited so long to tell him about us… or at least that was his excuse.”

Once again, Adrien took off his shirt. Marinette gasped when she saw the bruises on his arms.

“Oh Adrien,” her face crumpled as she went over to hug him. “I’ll bet that was scary.”

“It was… I was half asleep so that made it worse. Then five minutes later, akuma alert. I was feeling really messed up so my reflexes weren’t good enough to avoid the hit. I’m really sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Marinette reassured him. “I was really worried about you. Are you ok? What happened?”

“It paralyzed me. I could see and hear but I couldn’t move. And after the thing with my Father… I never really did get back to sleep.”

“My poor Kitty,” she touched his face. “I wish we could stay here but I’m sure that would only make things worse.”

“How long before we need to leave?” he asked.

Marinette looked at her phone, “Thirty minutes?”

“Could I just rest on the chaise?” he asked. “I have no idea how I’m going to stay awake today.”

“I’ll lay down with you,” she said, setting an alarm on her phone. “Come here,” she led him to the chaise and took off his shoes for him. He laid down on his side and she laid in front of him with her back against his chest. He closed his eyes and the next thing he heard was Marinette’s alarm.

“Has it really been thirty minutes?” he said groggily.

“I’m afraid so, Kitty. Time to go to school,” Marinette said as he put his shoes back on.

“Well, thanks for the nap,” he said, smiling tiredly. “I appreciate it.”

“We’ll get some coffee from Maman too,” Marinette promised.

*****

“What’s your schedule like today?” Marinette asked as they walked to school.

“I have to go home for lunch and I have a chinese lesson. I’ll probably just stay home after that,” he sighed. “I’d rather come see you but…” he trailed off.

“I understand. Please let me know if you need me for anything,” she told him.

He held her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I will,” he promised.

*******

Marinette spent her evening finishing Adrien’s birthday presents. She looked at all the scraps of fabric left over. An idea popped into her head.

Marinette: Alya, I need some advice from u. Do u think u can come over 2mrw?  
Alya: I’m intrigued. Wld this happen 2 b 4 Adrien’s bday?  
Marinette: u know me 2 well  
Alya: I guess so. I’ll b there.


	31. Chapter 31

On Wednesday, Adrien once again had Gorilla bring him over to the bakery so he could walk to school with Marinette.

“Good morning, Adrien,” Sabine greeted him, smiling as she stepped out from behind the till to give him a hug. “Can I get you some coffee?”

“Sure, thank you!” he said, appreciatively.

“Does Marinette know you’re here?” she asked as she poured the coffee into a to go cup with milk and sugar.

“Yes, I told her I’d come walk to school with her,” he replied. 

“I’ll make one for her as well then,” she said, picking up a second cup.

At that moment, Marinette came down the stairs. “Morning Maman, morning Adrien,” she said, walking up to Adrien and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Here are your coffees, you two,” Sabine said, handing them over.

“Thanks Maman,” Marinette replied, grabbing two croissants and handing one to Adrien.

“Have a good day at school,” Sabine called as they left the bakery.

“We have some time, want to sit for a few minutes before we have to go to class?” Marinette asked.

“Definitely, I’m missing spending time with you plus I’d have to throw the rest of this coffee away if we went to our classroom and that would be a terrible waste.” Adrien said, grinning at her.

“Did you get better sleep last night?” she asked.

“It took me awhile to relax enough to sleep but I didn’t get any more unwelcome visits.”

Marinette sighed with relief. “I’m sure it’s really difficult to relax after that. I’m glad nothing happened last night.”

Adrien gave her a squeeze and kissed the side of her head. “I cannot wait for Friday,” he said. “Did you ask your parents about me staying?”

“I did and it’s fine. Maman said you should just sleep in on your birthday instead of helping in the bakery.”

“Awww, but I want to help!” he protested.

Marinette laughed. “Welll, maybe we could just forego our breakfast break and leave early. How does that sound?”

“Ok,” Adrien agreed. “When are Alya and Nino coming?”

“Somewhere between 5 and 5:30,” she answered. “Maman is planning something special for dinner.”

“Wow, really?” Adrien said. “I can’t believe everyone is going to so much trouble for my birthday!”

“After all our various, thwarted efforts over the past few years? Of course we are!” Marinette laughed.

******

When the final school bell rang, Marinette waved Adrien off as he headed to fencing.

“Sorry babe, but I told you! I’ve been promised some girl talk with Marinette,” Alya said. “I’ll text you later!”

“Aw, Alya I’m gonna have to watch my little brother on my own now,” Nino grumbled.

“Hmmmm monster sitting or some probably extremely juicy gossip… whatta choice,” she teased him before giving him a quick kiss. “Bye, Nino.”

“Serves him right,” Alya said as she and Marinette headed toward the bakery. “I’ve helped him so many times and now I just end up being ‘Bad Cop’ every time I go.”

“That little guy is a handful all right,” Marinette said. “If I ever had to babysit him and Manon together, it would probably trigger the apocalypse.” Marinette and Alya simultaneously shuddered at the thought and then laughed.

“Hello girls!” Sabine greeted them as they walked into the bakery laughing. “Would you like a snack to take up with you?”

“Don’t worry, Maman. I’ll get it,” Marinette said, grabbing a tray.

“So Alya, I’m assuming you’ve come for some gossip?” Sabine said, her eyes twinkling.

“Oh, definitely… I’ve never looked forward to girl talk so much,” Alya grinned.

Marinette laughed as she put two coffees on the tray along with some eclairs. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never been this interesting before.”

“Yeah, probably not,” Alya agreed and both girls laughed.

******

“So what advice were you looking for?” Alya asked once they were sitting together on the chaise.

“Well…” Marinette started, feeling a little nervous. “I finished making Adrien’s presents and I have all these little pieces of fabric leftover and it gave me an idea… but I’m afraid it’s too much.. And you know me… I’ve spent way too much time overthinking what it is I want versus what I think I should want and…” she trailed off helplessly.

“Ok… are we talking… sexy idea?” Alya asked, a sly glint in her eyes.

“Maybe?” Marinette ventured and Alya shrieked in excitement.

“Ok girl, you most definitely have to spill. Do _not_ leave me hanging!”

Groaning self-consciously, Marinette opened her sketchbook to her last sketch and handed it to Alya.

“GIRL, WHAT?” Alya yelled as Marinette frantically shushed her.

“Sooo…” Alya said, barely able to contain her glee. “What _else_ were you planning to give Adrien for his birthday?”

“No Alya… Alya.. that…. That is not my plan…”

“Oh, I’m just teasing Marinette. But seriously, I know you think his little Ladybug crush is cute but what exactly do you think he’s going to get from seeing you wearing underwear inspired by… I mean you even look a bit like her… I’d love to know what you think he’s going to think.” Alya shook her head in mock exasperation.

“Yeah… you’ve answered my question. I didn’t really think about what that would look like.. I was just thinking it’d be cute and it would match his pajamas that I made. I guess I’d better save that idea for… a long time from now.” Marinette said, blushing. “I didn’t want to go that far.. I just wanted to let him see a bit more. I’m not even sure of that much. Part of me really wants to and part of me feels embarrassed and nervous.”

“Are you telling me that he spent all those nights here and you haven’t been even the slightest bit… undressed around each other?” Alya whistled. “You’ve got some self-discipline, that’s for sure.”

“We just… don’t want to move too fast,” Marinette said. “We’ve talked about what we’re comfortable doing and I guess I need to talk to him about that because I think it’s starting to change for me and maybe he feels the same.”

Alya snorted. “Well of course he does!”

“I’m glad I talked to you first. The more I think about it… that’s definitely a ‘someday’ thing.” Marinette said, thoughtfully.

“Someday, huh? Are you two making plans?” Alya asked.

“I mean… we talk about being together and staying together.” Marinette said slowly.

“You two are kind of amazing, you know that right?”

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked.

“You haven’t been together that long and clearly you are really honest with each other. I wouldn’t have guessed you were both so brave.”

“Well the first brave thing was confessing. Now, I’m just trying to stay brave.”

“Cheers to that,” Alya said, raising her coffee cup and tapping it against Marinette’s.

“So,” Alya said when they finished their coffee. “I can almost see the wheels turning. What’s going on lady”?”

“I’m that obvious, huh… just thinking about what you said about spending nights together. His father is going away again so…”

“Ooooh, does Adrien get to stay over again?” Alya did a little dance of glee in her seat. “You seriously have all the luck!”

Marinette smiled. “I don’t know about that, but I am glad I can get Adrien away from his home sometimes.”

“Yeah, Mr. Agreste definitely seems like a piece of work from what Nino’s told me.”

“He’s a lot worse than I realized,” Marinette said quietly.

“I suppose you are getting a clearer picture since you are spending so much time with him,” Alya said. “Well, I’m glad he’s got you.”

Marinette grinned. “So am I.”

Alya laughed. “On that note, I’m gonna head home. See you tomorrow!”

“I’ll walk you downstairs. Thanks for the advice,” Marinette replied gratefully.

“Anytime girl!”


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s Adrien’s birthday for the rest of this work. Expect sweetness and fluff!

When Friday finally came around, Marinette was beside herself with excitement. She had seen very little of Adrien as he did his best to placate his father. As she scurried around getting ready, she heard a knock on her trap door.

“Adrien?” she called as she slipped a hot pink shift dress over her head and zipped it up.

“Yeah, can I come in?” he asked.

“Sure!” she said as she stepped into a pair of black ballet flats and put her hair in a high ponytail.

“Awww, you look so pretty!” Adrien exclaimed as he came in and engulfed her in a hug. “Guess who was leaving already when I got up this morning?” he asked with a wink.

“I see you have your ‘luggage’ as Nino referred to it so I’m guessing your father and Natalie have mercifully deprived you of their presence.”

Adrien laughed. “That is an excellent way to put it! Ready to go Princess?”

“Lead the way!”

As they were leaving the bakery, Tom stopped them with a large box.

“Thought I’d send you to school with some cupcakes,” he said, looking pleased at Adrien’s delighted expression.

“Wow, I’m going to be popular today! Thanks Tom!” he said, taking the box from him carefully.

“It’s my pleasure. See you two later!” he waved as he went back to the kitchen.

“I’m starting to get the impression this birthday will be hard to top!” Adrien said as they walked to their classroom.

“Challenge accepted,” Marinette teased him as she opened the door to their classroom.

“Whaaaat,” exclaimed Nino as Adrien walked in with the box of cupcakes. “Dude, it looks like Tom hooked you up!”

“I’m more than happy to share,” Adrien said as he set the box on Miss Bustier’s desk. His classmates quickly surrounded him and he started passing out cupcakes.

“Adrien, what are you doing?” Miss Bustier asked as she walked in.

“Want a cupcake?” Adrien offered. “Marinette’s Papa made them for me to share because my birthday is tomorrow.” Marinette smiled at how pleased he was.

“I didn’t know Adrien was already buddies with the father-in-law,” Alya whispered to Marinette before taking a big bite of her cupcake.

“Yep, Adrien has been helping him on the weekends in the kitchen,” Marinette explained. “He’s got big plans for his birthday cake tomorrow but don’t tell Adrien. It’s meant to be a surprise.”

“Awwww, that is adorable,” Alya cooed.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Marinette took Adrien to the little coffee shop for lunch since he didn’t have to go home.

“I wish I could do this more often,” Adrien said, taking Marinette’s hand and kissing it.

“Me too,” Marinette agreed, taking a sip of her coffee. “Do you have anything on the schedule this weekend?”

“Nope!” Adrien replied with a grin. “Not a single damn thing until Monday.”

“That is the best news ever!” cheered Marinette,

Adrien nodded, “Any plans for tonight?”

“Just dinner with my parents.”

“Oooh, so do you think…” he paused and leaned close to her ear, “We could maybe take something off the someday list?”

Marinette blushed and laughed. “Possibly… and maybe there’s something that has occured to me that isn’t on the someday list.” She winked.

Adrien grinned. “Well now I’m intrigued.”

“You should be! Now let’s get back to class!”

****  
It was the end of the school day and everyone was packing up their things as they waited for the dismissal bell to ring. Alya laughed as she watched Adrien hastily cramming everything in his bag. 

“Looks like someone is in a hurry… I can’t imagine why… hmmm Marinette?”

“I can’t help it! I’ve been looking forward to this all week!” he exclaimed.

“Aw, you’re cute Sunshine,” Alya cooed.

“Hey, whose girlfriend are you anyway!” Nino exclaimed.

“Oh don’t worry babe. I just think he’s cute like a puppy.”

“Thanks a lot,” muttered Adrien and everyone laughed.

“Come on Gorgeous,” Marinette said, giving him a kiss to a chorus of “Oohs” from Alya and Nino. “Let’s get out of here. We’ll see you two tomorrow!” she said, laughing as Adrien pulled her out the door.

******

“Hello you two,” Sabine said as Adrien dragged a still laughing Marinette through the door.

“Hello Sabine!” Adrien exclaimed, smiling brightly. “Thanks for letting me stay. This week has been totally soul-destroying and I’m so glad to be out of that house!”

Sabine smiled sympathetically. Adrien’s tone was cheerful despite his words. “I think you are probably the most resilient person I have ever met, Adrien. We’re happy to have you. Now, can I get you two anything?”

“I’m getting coffee,” Marinette said from the coffee station. 

“Tom decided to make Palmiers today. Do you want to try some?”

“Oooh definitely,” Adrien said, eyeing the pastries in the display case.

Marinette put everything on a tray. “We’re going upstairs to my room.”

“Let me get that,” Adrien said to her, taking the tray.

The moment they entered Marinette’s room, she ran to get more comfortable clothes. “Be right back!” she said as she ran off to the bathroom to change. Moments later, she returned in a long gray t-shirt and black leggings. Adrien was sitting at her desk munching on a Palmier.

“This is delicious… I hope your Papa keeps making these.”

Marinette sat down in his lap and took one for herself. “Mmm, you’re right.”

They sat together quietly, sipping coffee and eating Palmiers while Adrien idly twirled them around in the desk chair.

Finally, Adrien put down his drink so he could stroke Marinette’s back. “So what did you think of that isn’t on the someday list? I’m dying to know.”

Marinette closed her eyes, enjoying the gentle, caressing motion of his hand on her back. “I was thinking.. Maybe I can be the first present you unwrap,” she said, not fully recognizing what she was saying.

Adrien nearly jumped out of the seat, causing Marinette to fall out of his lap and onto the floor. “Marinette? Did you just say what I think you just said?” he exclaimed.

Marinette was already realizing exactly what she had accidentally implied and groaned in embarrassment. “Ugh, here I go again getting way ahead of myself,” she said, putting her head in her hands. She felt a reassuring touch on her shoulder

“Why don’t we go back to the chaise,” Adrien offered, looking at her softly. “There’s more room for us there anyway.” He took her hand to help her up and led her away from the desk.

Marinette sat down and fanned her face which she could tell was bright red just from how hot her skin felt. “I’m sorry Adrien. I’m a total mess,” she said, apologetically. “I really didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea… not that I never… I mean eventually… but not too soon…”

Adrien wrapped his arms around her as she stammered. “You really don’t need to apologize. I mean… I’m curious about what you actually meant… but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy any other things were on your mind.”

“Really?” she said. “I don’t want to upset you by giving you the wrong idea and then… backing out.”

“That’s not going to happen,” he reassured her. “I promise I would never get upset even if you change your mind about doing anything with me. I don’t think you’d be upset if I had to stop because something ended up being too much, would you?”

Marinette shook her head. “Of course not!”

Adrien smiled and gently stroked her bangs out of her face. “And what’s this about getting ahead of yourself again? We haven’t done something you’re…?” he looked a little anxious as he trailed off.

“Oh no, that isn’t what I meant,” Marinette interrupted in alarm. “I had an idea I wasn’t sure about so I… asked Alya and she asked me if I had really thought through what I was saying. She pointed out a few key facts that I hadn’t thought about and long story short, it’s now on the someday list.”

Adrien laughed in relief. “You had me worried there. I’m interested to know what ended up on the someday list but I don’t need to know until you’re ready to tell me.”

“I love you,” Marinette said suddenly. “You are being so kind and understanding… It’s making me feel a lot better. Thank you.”

“I love you too,” he said, leaning over and kissing the side of her head. “We both know we have to be careful with each other. Being together is dangerous for us. It doesn’t matter if anyone expects us to be doing anything just because we can, ok?

Marinette nodded and snuggled against him. “So what did you want to take off the someday list?” she asked.

“Uh, making out in bed,” he ventured, nervously. “I promise we can stop if it gets to be too much but I’d really like to...try.”

Marinette looked up at his nervous expression. “I-I’d like that,” she said. “And… what I was trying to say… earlier… I’d like to show you… more of me… not as much as I might have insinuated… but…” she studied his expression.

“I think… I know what you are saying,” he said slowly. “Are you sure, Marinette?”

In answer, she grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and lifted it over her head before tossing it on the floor.

“Oh, Marinette,” he breathed. 

Feeling flustered and overwhelmed, she looked at the floor. Adrien got up and kneeled at her feet, holding her hands in his. His eyes took everything in, desperate to imprint what he was seeing in his mind so he could always remember how lovely she was, her silky black hair falling below her shoulders, her flawless pale skin, the cute little freckles scattered across her collarbone. 

“Marinette,” he said again, drawing his eyes back to her face. “Please look at me.” Slowly she lifted her face until she made eye contact with him. As he looked into her eyes, he realized this wasn’t just about letting him see. This was another, further gift of trust. “You are so beautiful,” he said quietly. “But I’m not going to look anymore unless you say you want me to. How about…” he let go of her hands and stood up then walked halfway up the ladder to her bed and pulled the duvet off. “Can I just wrap up with you in this and we can watch a movie?”

“That sounds really nice,” Marinette said, finally finding her voice. She took the duvet from him and stood up, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Smiling, he moved the chaise to the space in front of the monitor while she went to unlock her desktop and pick out a movie.

“Got anymore Ghibli films?” he asked as he saw her scrolling uncertainly through her collection.

“Yeah, quite a few of them. How about _Kiki’s Delivery Service_?”

“Definitely,” he said, his eyes lighting up.

Marinette clicked on the movie and clicked the play option when the menu came up.

Feeling a little braver, she handed the duvet to Adrien. “It’s ok, you can look if you want to..” she said shyly.

Adrien smiled at her and draped the duvet over his shoulders. “Come sit in front of me,” he said.

She nodded and sat down, leaning against his chest. He wrapped the duvet around them before slipping his arms around her waist and holding her hands in his. As they sat together watching the movie, she slowly began to relax, her head leaning against his chin. Adrien kissed the side of her head and moved his hands to her shoulders, gently stroking down her arms to her wrists and back up again. She made a contented humming sound and nuzzled his neck. When the credits started to roll, Adrien leaned down to kiss her neck.

“What do you want to do now?” he murmured.

“It’s your birthday! What do you want to do?” she asked playfully.

“I’d really like to kiss you,” he replied.

Blushing, she turned around to face him. He grinned mischievously at her.

“Best birthday ever,” he murmured, kissing down the side of her neck. He nuzzled the corner of her neck and then suddenly changed tactics, placing noisy, smacking kisses all over her collarbone.

“Adrien,” she giggled. “That tickles!”

Grinning, he continued to playfully kiss her, making her giggle even louder. Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming up and he stopped abruptly. There was a knock on the door.

“Dinner will be in ten minutes or so you two,” Sabine called.

“We’ll be right there, Maman,” Marinette replied loudly, praying today was not the day there was a breakdown in the knocking system. They both listened as Sabine went back downstairs.

Adrien sighed with relief. “And that was how Adrien almost got murdered the day before he turned seventeen,” he intoned somberly, before they both burst into laughter.

“F-first test of the kn-knocking system,” gasped Marinette, clutching Adrien’s shoulders as she giggled hysterically. “N-no deaths r-reported.” Adrien’s face was still buried in her shoulder and she could feel his tears of laughter against her skin. “I-i need to get my shirt,” she said, wiping her own eyes and disentangling herself from Adrien. He pulled the blanket off and went to put it back on the bed while she grabbed her shirt and put it back on.

“Thank you for trusting me,” Adrien said softly as he crept up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

“Thank you for making me feel more comfortable,” she replied shyly. “Shall we go downstairs?”


	33. Chapter 33

Sabine was setting the table when Adrien and Marinette walked in. She looked up and smiled, noting how relaxed they looked together. “What have you been up to?” she asked with a smile.

“We were watching ‘ _Kiki’s Delivery Service‘_ ,” Marinette answered. “Can I help with anything?”

“You can bring the quiche over. I set it out to cool on the counter,” Sabine said. “Adrien, there’s a salad in the fridge as well. Could you bring that over?”

“Sure, Sabine!” he smiled, following Marinette over to the kitchen.

“Hello everyone!” Tom said as he came in with his bread basket. He took out a baguette and placed it on the cutting board in the middle of the dining table.

“Hello dear, you’re right on time!” Sabine smiled as Marinette and Adrien brought the rest of the meal over and everyone sat down.

“So Adrien,” Tom said as he expertly cut and served everyone a slice of quiche. “Do you still play Ultimate Mech Strike III?”

“Sure,” Adrien nodded as he sliced off a piece of the baguette.

“Would you be interested in a game after dinner?” Tom asked.

Adrien’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Are you as good as Marinette?” he asked.

“Taught her everything she knows!” Tom nodded proudly.

“I probably don’t stand a chance but sure, why not?” Adrien said with a laugh.

“Care to make a little wager on that?” Tom asked mischievously.

“I’m not sure what I’m prepared to lose,” he laughed. “I’ve never been much for betting and after the class Adrinette betting pool, I’d rather avoid it altogether.”

“What on earth is an Adrinette betting pool?” Tom asked. 

Laughing in embarrassment, Marinette and Adrien took it in turns to explain the rather mortifying event that had occured the first day they had gone to class as a couple.

“My goodness!” Sabine exclaimed. “Whose idea was that?”

“Seemed like a group effort to me,” Marinette muttered.

“I doubt we’d ever get the full story on that one, even if we asked. I am pretty sure I don’t even want to know!” Adrien said.

Tom laughed. “I would not be at all surprised if Alya and Nino had something to do with it.”

“Especially Alya,” Marinette agreed.

After dinner, Marinette, Sabine and Adrien cleared the dinner things away while Tom went to turn on the games console and the television. Adrien walked over and sat down next to him as he loaded up the game. “Here you go son, best of luck!” he exclaimed, handing Adrien a controller.

“I think I’ll need it,” Adrien laughed, turning the controller on. “Should I login as you, Marinette or set up a guest account?”

“Just use mine,” she replied, walking over and sitting next to him. Sabine came over and sat next to Tom. 

Soon, Tom and Adrien were embroiled in battle, vigorously entering complicated combinations into their controllers while trying to avoid each other’s attacks. Marinette and Sabine cheered and laughed as one match became two and then three. Adrien could definitely see where Marinette had learned to play the game. After finally managing to beat Tom in the fourth match, Adrien handed Marinette the controller.

“Now I want to see the apprentice beat the master,” he teased.

“With pleasure!” Marinette said to loud ‘OOOs’ from Sabine and Tom.

“Fine, I’ll play you but you can’t use the pink robot. You’ve memorized every single one of that thing’s special attacks and I don’t have the energy for that!”

“All of the attacks?” Adrien asked, incredulously.

“All 36 of them,” Marinette confirmed, scowling as she chose her second favorite, the purple robot. Adrien shook his head and laughed as Tom and Marinette faced off. 

It was extremely entertaining watching his girlfriend fighting her Papa. It was clear to Adrien that although she might not know _all_ the purple robot’s special moves, she certainly knew _most_ of them. Her hands were manipulating the controller so quickly, he couldn’t tell what she was doing but he could definitely see the results on the screen as the robot flipped and twisted, throwing special missile attacks and shooting a giant lazer until Tom’s poor robot keeled over.

“Yessss!” Marinette cheered.

“Goodness, little Macaron, when did you get so good with the purple robot?” Tom asked, laughing.

“Since you stopped letting me play against you with the pink one,” Marinette retorted. “I’ve been practicing,” she said with a wink.

Everyone laughed at this revelation and as he sat there with Marinette’s family, Adrien felt a powerful sense of belonging like he had never felt before. He wished he could just melt into this family and leave his own lonely one behind.

Tom and Sabine got up. “That was fun kids, but I need to get ready for bed and check on things downstairs.”

“Goodnight Papa, Goodnight Maman,” Marinette said, hugging them both.

“Goodnight Adrien,” Tom said, ruffling his hair as Sabine kissed his cheek and murmured, “See you in the morning, dear.”

Marinette watched them head off to their bedroom then slipped her arm around Adrien’s waist. “Shall we go upstairs?” she murmured.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Do you think we could go out on the balcony? I’d love some fresh air.”

“I’ve got an even better idea!” she whispered in his ear. Immediately he knew what she meant and they raced up the stairs, laughing.

*****

Adrien went up to the balcony first to transform.

“You kids sure have some weird ideas about romance,” grumbled Plagg, who had spent far too much time snacking on Camembert and avoiding the ‘kissy kissy shit’ as he now liked to call it.

“I don’t know if I’d call it romance,” Adrien laughed. “My relationship with her is different when we’re transformed.”

“Same bug, same kitten. You both know it. I don’t understand,” Plagg complained.

“Neither do I, but it’s working,” Adrien said with a shrug. “Plagg, claws out!”

Marinette watched as he leapt off to their planned meeting spot at the Trocadero.

“Think you can keep Plagg occupied when we get back?” she asked. “We’d rather not have an audience.”

Tikki laughed, “Consider it done,” she promised. “Thanks, Tikki, spots on!”

As soon as she transformed, Ladybug leapt off the balcony and caught a street sign with her yoyo. She quickly made the journey to the Trocadero and immediately noticed Chat trying to help some confused tourists. She landed about ten meters away and walked over. 

“Hey Chat!” she greeted him. “What’s going on?”

“They’re a bit disoriented,” he explained. “They aren’t far from their hotel but they don’t understand where it is in relation to here.”

“How about we walk them a little closer,” Ladybug suggested, glancing at the location on the tourists’ phone. Chat nodded in agreement and gestured for the tourists to follow them. It only took a few minutes for the hotel to become visible. The tourists thanked them and asked for a selfie. Smiling, they obliged and then watched as they hurried off.

“Since it’s Friday night, do you wanna go on patrol or go check up on the nightclubs?” Chat asked Ladybug as they watched the tourists disappear into the hotel.

“Hmmm, when you put it that way…” Ladybug said, wrinkling her nose.

Chat laughed. “How about we go on the route that includes all those clubs near the Champs-Élysées? If it’s quiet, we can keep going and if it isn’t…”

“We keep going anyhow?” Ladybug said hopefully. “I just don’t want to be out here all night.”

“Good point,” Chat said. “How about, barring an akuma, we stay out for an hour and that’s it.”

“Works for me, Kitty!” she flashed him a grin as she slung her yoyo toward a light post and swung away. 

The night clubs were still relatively calm since it was only just past 9pm. Chat Noir and Ladybug decided to continue on the route, running along rooftops and showing off their acrobatics to the civilians watching from the streets below. A few times they were called for help. Once, to rescue a cat hiding underneath a car-- Chat delighted its owner by laying next to the car and purring until the cat came out to say hello-- and twice to give directions.

“It’s actually civilized tonight!” Chat marveled as they headed back home. “I’m going to detour via the Bastille monument. Which route are you taking?”

“Via the Louvre, I guess,” she replied, considering how far off course she needed to go. See you in a few, Chat.”

Seven minutes later, she was landing on the balcony. Adrien popped open the hatch and let her in. She climbed in and shut the door before de-transforming.

“I’m going to go get ready for bed,” he murmured, kissing her neck. Shivering, she nodded and waited for him to climb down. She went and retrieved a macaron for Tikki and a wedge of cheese from Adrien’s cooler for Plagg.

“Sugarcube told me I’m being spared… whatever it is you’re doing. I’m sure I don’t want to know. I’m just glad you asked her not to watch. It’s like you two are her own personal romance movie or something. Blech.” Plagg made a terrible gagging noise.

“You know, Plagg, I could organize a romance movie for you both to watch,” Marinette said, wickedly. “That’s well within the realms of modern technology.”

Plagg’s eyes widened in horror. “You wouldn’t. If Tikki found out you could do that, it would never stop.”

“What wouldn’t stop?” Tikki asked, zooming over while munching her macaron.

Marinette side-eyed Plagg and grinned. He tried to glare back but Tikki was watching him suspiciously. “It’s nothing Sugar Cube, he said hastily. “Just discussing puny human technology. So lame! Now let’s leave these two alone, shall we?” he quickly phased through the hatch door with Tikki following.

“I don’t know what you said to him but that was amazing,” Adrien said as he walked back into the room.

“I threatened him with Netflix,” she shrugged.

“I’m still not sure I understand!”

“Well, he said he was tired of Tikki treating us like her own personal romantic entertainment and he was glad we’d asked them to go away tonight. I told him I could organize constant access to romantic stuff for them to watch together…”

“Oh, man I wish I’d seen his face when he put that together!” Adrien said, laughing.

“He was definitely horrified. And pretty keen to vacate the premises!”

“Mission accomplished, then,” Adrien replied, nuzzling her neck.

“I guess I better get ready for bed,” she murmured as she looked through her pj collection. She lifted out a small bundle of deep blue jersey and headed for the bathroom.

When she returned, Adrien was sitting on her bed, plugging his phone in. He looked up as she climbed onto the bed and his eyes lit up. “You look so pretty,” he exclaimed, taking in her slightly fitted tank top and softly draping pajama pants.

“Thanks,” she said softly as she pulled back the covers. Adrien slid in next to her as she pulled the blanket over them. He reached over and put his arm around her waist, drawing her close. 

“Is this ok?” he asked. “If you’re not ready, we can just snuggle.”

“It’s more than ok,” Marinette assured him. 

Smiling, he leaned over and kissed her. As she kissed him back, he tightened his grip on her waist and rolled her onto him. Marinette giggled as her face ended up pressed against his chest. “What just happened?” she asked.

“I was trying not to break our teeth again,” Adrien said, laughing quietly. “But you’re smaller than me and… I don’t know what I just did… Hang on a moment…”

Marinette waited patiently for him to figure out what he was doing. She pressed her ear against his chest and listened to his heart beating. Adrien grinned as he realized what she was doing. “Well, Bug, now you know you’re making my heart race,” he said softly, stroking her hair. “I think it’s my turn now.” Carefully, he bent his leg between hers and pushed his thigh against her bottom, pushing her up towards him. Suddenly, Marinette found herself face to face with him. Gently, he took her face in his hands and began to kiss her softly. She let out a little sign as she kissed him back, bracing her hands lightly on his shoulders. He slid one hand into her hair and kissed her harder, gently nipping at her lips. The energy between them began to build and she moaned quietly as she matched his intensity. Feeling the almost electrical charge as he touched her, Adrien moved his other hand from her face to the small of her back, slipping it just under the hem of her pajama shirt.

“Adrien,” she whispered. He was about to pull back when she kissed him even harder, flicking her tongue into his mouth and moaning as he caressed her tongue with his own. His hand slid further under her shirt, pressing her chest tightly against his own. Marinette felt the buzzing energy grow even more intense as she gasped in surprise and then kissed down the slide of his neck, lingering in the spot where it met his shoulder. She felt him shudder underneath her.

“Marinette,” he whispered, as he loosened his grip.

“I think we better stop,” she whispered back.

“I think you’re right,” he agreed, letting her climb off him.

Carefully, he sat up and took a deep breath. Marinette sat up and scooted next to him. He grinned at her and put his arm around her shoulders. “That felt amazing.”

Marinette laughed. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

They sat quietly, feeling the energy slowly dissipate  
“I wonder if I’ll ever get used to that,” Adrien said. “Not that it slowed me down this time.”

“Speaking of time, what time is it?” Marinette asked.

Adrien picked up his phone. “Just past midnight. I guess we better get to sleep.”

“We should,” Marinette agreed. “But first…” she leaned up and kissed him. “Happy Birthday Hot Stuff.”

“Hot Stuff?! That’s new!” he exclaimed, laughing quietly.

‘Ah, but technically it isn’t,” she said. “I may have accidentally referred to you as Hot Stuff in a voicemail once.”

“I feel like I would remember that,” he grinned.

“You might except I stole your phone to delete it.”

“What? When was this?” he asked, snorting in amusement.

“Quite a long time ago. I snuck into the locker room during fencing but then I couldn’t figure out your phone so Alya helped me.”

“Hang on! I do remember that! And then my phone was just in my bag again when I was in class the next day.”

“I slipped it in there when I walked past,” Marinette said, blushing. “Sorry…”

“Don’t be,” he grinned. “That story is like a birthday present in itself!”

“Well, there’s plenty more where that came from,” Marinette assured him. “Although that is probably one of the funnier ones. Not that it seemed funny at the time!”

Adrien pushed the blanket back and pulled Marinette into a tight hug. “I love you,” he murmured as he held her. “I’m really looking forward to spending my birthday with you. Part of me wants to just stay up talking but I think we should go to bed.”

“I love you too and you’re right,” Marinette slid down to lie on her side and Adrien snuggled up behind her and pulled the duvet over them.


	34. Chapter 34

Marinette woke up the next morning to the sound of Adrien’s alarm. She rolled over and smiled at Adrien.

“Wake up, Birthday Boy,” she murmured as she snuggled against him. He smiled but didn't open his eyes as he pulled her on top of him while making a happy purring noise. She giggled and kissed his neck. “We need to get ready if you want to go help in the bakery this morning,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, loosening his arms so she could get up before slowly sitting up himself. “I’ve just missed waking up with you.”

“Me too,” she smiled. “I’m going to go get dressed. I’ll be right back.” She came back a few minutes later in a long sleeved green top and indigo blue jeans, her hair tied in her familiar pigtails

“Haven’t seen these in awhile!” Adrien exclaimed, playfully ruffling one of her pigtails with his fingers. “Apart from on Ladybug, of course.”

Marinette laughed, “Yes I make sure to keep that look consistently the same. It occurred to me a little while ago that I should do more things with my hair as Marinette to create some distance between myself and well.. Ladybug me.”

Adrien gave her a hug. “Well I love you and Ladybug you,” he said.

Marinette reached up to kiss him. “I love you too, Birthday Boy but you better get ready now.” He grinned and grabbed his clothing before heading to the bathroom.

Marinette was sitting on the chaise putting on her shoes when Adrien came back wearing jeans and his pajama shirt. “I seem to have dropped my t-shirt between here and the bathroom,” he said, looking slightly flustered.

“Is that so?” she asked mischievously.

He looked at her suspiciously, “What exactly does that face mean Marinette Dupain Cheng?”

Marinette laughed. “Doesn’t have to mean anything. It just occurred to me you might be returning the favor.”

Adrien grinned. “Oh? Did you want me to?” he asked flirtatiously.

“I might not want to go downstairs if you do,” she said, equally flirtatiously.

Adrien shook his head and laughed. “One of these days I’m going to call your bluff, Miss Dupain Cheng,” he said, tapping the tip of her nose.  
“I’m looking forward to it,” she winked, as he went to check his overnight bag.

“Ah, here it is. I never even had it. I guess someone was distracting me,” he said. “Go ahead and look, Bug. I’ve got nothing to hide.” He pulled off his pajama shirt and threw it in his bag before grabbing the blue t-shirt he had intended to wear. He looked at her stricken face and laughed. “Aren’t I the one who should be blushing?” he said as he pulled his t-shirt on.

Marinette managed a choked giggling sound then just went and opened the trap door. Laughing, he grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs. They were nearly to the bakery when Marinette abruptly said, “I think… the words are working.”

Adrien smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I had no idea I had this kind of effect on you, Bug.”

“Pretty sure you did,” Marinette muttered as they went into the bakery.

“Good morning you two and Happy Birthday, Adrien” Sabine said, stepping out from behind the till to give him a hug.

“Thanks Sabine,” he said. “Do you mind if I make some coffee? I’ve been practicing at home.”

“Go right ahead!” she smiled, grabbing an apron and handing it to him. “Think you’ll need the hat today?”

“Hmmm, yeah probably,” he said, thoughtfully.

Sabine opened a small cupboard where it had been stored and handed it to him.

“Thanks,” he replied as he put the lid on the cafetiere and put the hat on. “Has it been busy this morning?” he asked.

“Fairly, it’ll probably start picking up in the next hour. And thank you for helping out. I would have understood if you and Marinette wanted to do something for your birthday,” Sabine said.

“Are you kidding? This is fun! And I really enjoy spending time with all of you. It feels like I’m part of the family when I help out. Slowly, he pushed the plunger down before pouring four cups of coffee. I’m sorry, Sabine, I’m afraid I don’t know how you and Tom like your coffee.”

Sabine smiled fondly at him. “I may be getting ahead of myself but I hope someday you are. As for coffee, Tom and I just add milk.”

Adrien smiled, looking down at the coffee cups as he poured milk into each one and added sugar to his and Marinette’s. He handed Marinette hers first before giving Sabine her cup. “See you later,” he said as he grabbed his and Tom’s coffee and went to the kitchen.

At that moment, Mrs. Berger and Mrs. Dupuis came into the bakery. 

“Hello, Marinette,” Mrs. Berger said as she approached the till. “Where is that gorgeous young man of yours?”

“Adrien is in the back, helping Papa,” she answered, feeling flustered. 

Both ladies looked very disappointed for a moment but brightened when Adrien came back from the kitchen with a tray of pastries. “Hello ladies,” he greeted them. “I believe we’ve met before!”

“We were hoping we’d see you today!” Mrs. Berger exclaimed.

Adrien laughed as he carefully took each pastry off his tray and put it where it belonged in the display case. “I’m flattered. Was there any particular reason why?”

“Adrien, I’m sorry. I didn’t get to introduce you last time. This is Mrs. Berger and this is Mrs. Dupuis. These two ladies are regular customers here,” Marinette said.

Adrien put the last pastry in place and gave them a dazzling smile. “Mrs. Berger, Mrs. Dupuis, I’m sorry but I need to get back to the kitchen. Tom was getting the bread basket ready and he’s probably wondering what happened to me. Please excuse me.” He turned toward Marinette and winked and to his delight, she winked back. The ladies watched as he disappeared into the kitchen before turning back to Marinette.

“What can I get for you two today?” Marinette asked, her eyes twinkling. Mrs. Dupuis fanned herself and Mrs. Berger giggled.

“You’re a very lucky girl,” Mrs Berger finally said. “Can we each get some coffee and an eclair?”

Marinette smiled. ‘Coming right up!” she said.

As the two ladies left the bakery, Rose and Juleka wandered in. “Hi Marinette,” Rose greeted her brightly, “I’m surprised to see you here. Isn’t it Adrien’s birthday?”

“It is!” Marinette exclaimed. “Adrien is actually in the kitchen with my Papa. He’s been helping on the weekends and he wanted to help this morning.”

“Awww! That’s so sweet!” Rose squealed as Juleka nodded in agreement.

“So what can I get for you two?” Marinette asked, smiling.

“Do you have any fruit tarts?” Juleka asked quietly.

“Did you say fruit tarts?” Marinette asked. Juleka nodded.

Sabine looked in the case. “Looks like we are out. Marinette, do you want to see if Papa has any more ready?”

“Sure,” Marinette agreed. She opened the kitchen door and peeked in. Papa was busy showing Adrien how to fill eclairs. She waited for the demonstration to end before getting their attention. “Papa?” she asked. “Do we have any more fruit tarts ready?”

“Just about. I was just going to glaze them. I’ll send Adrien with them in a minute or two,” he promised.

“Thanks, Papa!” she said as she left the kitchen..

“They’ll be ready in a minute,” Marinette told her friends.

“Great!” Rose said, cheerfully. “Can we get some coffee too?”

“Of course,” Marinette rang them up while Sabine made their coffee. A moment later, Adrien came out with a tray full of fruit tarts.

“Hey Juleka! Hey Rose!” He greeted them with a smile. “Were you the ones asking for fruit tarts?”

“Yes please!” Rose exclaimed. “We ordered two! And Happy Birthday Adrien!”

“Aw, thank you!” he replied, letting Sabine take two tarts off the tray, Carefully, he started putting the rest in the display case while she put Rose and Juleka’s tarts in two little boxes. “So what are you two doing today?”

“Ummm, going to the park?” Juleka said, looking at Rose for confirmation. Rose nodded at her encouragingly and took her hand. Looking a little more confident, she said. “We thought we’d get our favorite dessert and hang out at the park.”

Adrien nodded and smiled at them both. “That sounds really awesome! I hope you have a nice time together!” 

“You too!” Rose said, blushing a little. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your birthday!”

“Thanks,” Adrien said, walking over to Marinette and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I need to get back to the kitchen. Marinette’s Papa is showing me how to assemble eclairs.”

The rest of the morning passed quickly as the bakery got busier and busier. Finally around 11:30, business started to wane. Sabine gasped, “Marinette! Did you ever have breakfast?”

Marinette shook her head. “We were planning on skipping our break and leaving early.”

“Oh dear, I wonder if Adrien ever took a break,” Sabine said.

“I doubt it but I’ll go ask.” Marinette replied.

Sure enough, Adrien had been so busy he had forgotten all about breakfast.

“This won’t do!” Tom exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to make you work so hard on your birthday.”

“That’s ok. I’ve been having a lot of fun,” Adrien grinned. 

“Tell you what, son… Why don’t you and Marinette head off now? I’ve got some cherry clafoutis coming out. Take one of those and go relax somewhere!”

“That sounds great, thank you!” Adrien said. “I think Rose and Julecka had the right idea. Why don’t we go to the park, Marinette?”

****

Twenty minutes later they were sitting on a bench in the park, eating slices of clafoutis and sipping their coffee. “This is nice,” Adrien said. “Although I think I need a nap after our… late night…” He winked at her.

Marinette blushed. “A nap does sound pretty good,” she admitted.

“Looks like we ran out of dessert anyway,” Adrien observed, picking up the empty box and throwing it away along with his coffee cup. He waited for Marinette to throw her cup away before offering her his arm. “Shall we, Princess?”

When they got back to Marinette’s room, she promptly went and retrieved a screen that was tucked away in a corner. “I totally forgot I had this,” she said. “I’m going to put on something comfy.” She grabbed some pajamas and went behind the screen to change. She came out in her pink tanktop and shorts, pulling her hair loose from her pigtails.

“Me next!” Adrien said, going behind the screen and putting on his Ladybug pajamas. Marinette had already climbed into bed and he hurried to join her.

She laid down on her side and he snuggled up behind her. The bed was warm from the sunshine pouring through the hatch door. Adrien nuzzled Marinette’s neck sleepily and closed his eyes.

When he woke up later, he looked around, trying to figure out how long he had been sleeping. Marinette was still dozing so he checked his phone to see how late it was. It was 1:30 and Alya and Nino weren’t coming over until at least 5pm. He sent an alarm for 3 and spooned up behind Marinette again, almost immediately falling back asleep.

Marinette woke an hour later. She carefully climbed over Adrien and went down to check the time. She quietly crept over to where she had hidden Adrien’s birthday presents and carried them each up to the bed. Then she returned to the space next to him and laid there, facing him. “Wake up Birthday Boy,” she cooed, stroking his face. Slowly, his eyes opened.

“Hey Bug,” he said sleepily. “What time is it?” At that moment, his alarm went off and he rolled over to shut it off. As he sat up, he saw the little pile of presents. “Wow! You didn’t need to spoil me this much!” he exclaimed.

“I’m pretty sure I do need to spoil you this much,” she murmured, kissing his cheek. “I really enjoyed making your presents and I’m actually really proud of the last present. I can’t wait for you to see it!” 

“So is there an order for them?” Adrien asked.

“Yes, open the littlest one first. That one has a funny but embarrassing story to it,” she told him, blushing.

“Really? Why is that?” he asked curiously.

“I may have… just started making presents for you for every birthday a few years ago. I found the one I intended to give you for this birthday and thought you’d appreciate it.”

Adrien laughed. “That’s just extremely cute, Bug,” he said, kissing her cheek. He opened the little package and saw the framed picture of them together. His expression softened as he studied it. “I had no idea this picture of us even existed… us in opposite masks. This is… incredible. Thank you!” He pulled her to him and hugged her.

“I’m really glad you like it,” she smiled as she handed him the medium-sized present. 

Adrien tore open the bright red wrapping paper and a small bundle of red and black clothing came out. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked excitedly.

“Probably,” she laughed. “I hope you like them.”

Adrien unfolded the pajama shirt and gasped. “Oh, wow, Marinette, these are awesome!” Marinette had used a mix of black fabric along with two different red fabrics, one with small black polka dots and the other with larger black polka dots. The front of the shirt was made of diagonal patches of the alternating polka dot fabrics. It had black short sleeves and a black collar and there was extremely thin black piping dividing all the patches. The back panel was split diagonally between the two polka dot patterns with piping dividing them as well. The shorts were less intricate but one side was the larger polka dots and the other was the smaller ones. The insides of the pockets were made of the same black fabric as the sleeves and collar. Adrien shook his head in awe as he studied the tiny stitches in the patchwork. “I can’t believe you had time to do this!” he exclaimed. “What could you possibly give me after this?”

Marinette just grinned and handed him the last present. This project had been the most complex thing she had ever made and she was exceptionally proud of it. She watched avidly as he tore open the paper and pulled out the jacket she had made for him. “Marinette, this is incredible,” his voice broke and he hugged her wordlessly before tracing his fingers over the front. It was cut biker style with the collar and lapel attached to the coat with silver studs. She had made it out of black waxed canvas so although it looked almost like worn leather, it was much lighter. There were zippered pockets on both sides and a silver zipper with a small waxed canvas tag attached with another silver stud.

“Open it up!” Marinette urged him.

Adrien nodded and carefully opened one side of the jacket. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed. “Sorry Marinette… you complete angel. I just…” he shook his head and opened both sides to take in the brilliant red silk lining covered in black polka dots. She had used the same gold thread signature she had created on the derby hat she designed long ago and her name was scrawled across the back, vividly glittering against the silk. There was a small inside pocket on each side and each had a tiny ladybug button snap to fasten it. “I’ve worn a lot of beautiful clothes but this is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. The workmanship is so perfect! Seriously, how did you even do this?” 

“It’s amazing what can be accomplished when you make something with a lot of love,” Marinette said, softly.

Adrien picked up the jacket, pouring over every detail and realized how much of her heart she had put into making this for him.

“Try it on!” she said, feeling both nervous and excited.

Eagerly, Adrien slipped the jacket on over his pajamas and zipped it up. The fit was perfect.

“How on earth did you manage to get the measurements?”

“I measured a lot of your stuff while you were staying over last time,” Marinette admitted. “Not ideal, but I figured a coat would give me a little bit of slack.”

Adrien shook his head in awe. “Thank you Marinette,” he said, pulling her into his lap and hugging her tight.

Marinette buried her face in his shoulder. “You’re welcome. I am so happy you like your presents,” she murmured.

“I _love_ them. And I Iove _you_. You’ve made this day so special for me,” Adrien replied. He kissed the top of her head.

“Marinette,” Tikki called as she came in from the balcony. “Oh good, you’re awake. Happy Birthday Adrien!”

“Yeah, Happy Birthday, kid,” Plagg said, zipping in behind her.

“Thanks,” Adrien said as he stroked Marinette’s back.

“I’ve been watching Plagg eat all day and it’s making me hungry. I hate to bother you, Marinette but do you think I could have some cookies?” Tikki asked.

“Sure,” Marinette said, reluctantly getting out of Adrien’s lap. “I’m actually feeling pretty hungry myself. Do you want anything Adrien?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. How about we all go downstairs to the kitchen?” he suggested.

“Sounds good,” Marinette agreed as she went behind the screen with a clean outfit.

“I guess I should change too,” Adrien said, grinning. “I don’t know what your parents would make of the pajama and jacket look in the middle of the afternoon.

Marinette laughed. “I think you pull it off.”

Adrien grinned and kissed her cheek as he walked past to go behind the screen. “Thanks Bug.” He came back out in a gray t-shirt and jeans and grabbed his button-down shirt. “Tikki, Plagg, you can each take a pocket if you want to come with.”

“Does this mean I get cheese puffs?” Plagg asked greedily.

“Plagg! You’ve been stuffing your face with Camembert all day!” Tikki exclaimed in disgust.

“You know and I know that I can never get enough cheese,” Plagg told her before hiding in Adrien’s pocket. Tikki shook her head and rolled her eyes as she hid in the other pocket.

“Wow, something smells amazing,” Adrien commented as they walked into the kitchen.

“Probably dinner,” Marinette said.. “Maman wanted to make something special for your birthday. I think it's Cassoulet.”

“Seriously? Doesn’t that take a long time to make?”

“Yeah, it does. I guess she must like you,” Marinette said with a wink.

“Everyone is making such an effort for me…” Adrien murmured. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Your sincere appreciation is more than enough for me,” Sabine said as she walked in. “You are fun to spoil a bit.” She walked over to the oven and opened it, grabbing a wooden spoon that was resting nearby. Adrien watched in fascination as she gently pushed down on the crust on top of the dish and cracked it in several places before pushing the cassoulet back in the oven and shutting the door. “It’ll be ready in just over two hours,” Sabine told them. “So don’t snack too much!”

Marinette nodded. “We won’t,” she promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I feel like Adrien deserved lots of nice attention. One more chapter and then on to the next part of the series. I have been working on it as much as I can and I am excited to share it.


	35. Chapter 35

An hour later, Alya and Nino arrived with Tom. 

“Look who I found, milling around outside!” he joked.

“Hey Sunshine! Happy Birthday!” Alya said as she gave Adrien a hug.

“Thanks Alya!” he smiled.

“Happy Birthday, dude. Having a good day so far?” Nino asked, bumping fists with him.

“Yeah, it’s been awesome!” Adrien exclaimed. “I am pretty sure I have never been this spoiled.”

“So what did Marinette make for you?” Alya asked. “She’s been very secretive about it. All I’ve seen are some fabric samples,” she winked at Marinette mischievously.

“I’d like to see too,” Sabine chimed in. “I know she’s been really busy with whatever it is.”

Adrien smiled. “I’ll go get them,” he said. “Be right back.”

“Them, huh?” Alya said, raising an eyebrow. “How much stuff did you make?”

“Not that much,” Marinette defended herself. “Just wait and see.”

A minute later, Adrien came down holding a little pile of clothing.

“Ha! You know you’ve arrived when you get pajamas from Marinette!” Alya teased. “This girl is the pajama queen.”

“Does this mean she’s made pajamas for you Alya?” Adrien teased back.

“Of course! I got some for Christmas and my birthday last year,” she bragged. “And I’m hoping to get more this Christmas,” she said, looking at Marinette pointedly.

Marinette laughed softly. “Pajamas for everyone!” she promised.

“Even me?” Nino asked, looking hopeful.

“I’ll make you and Alya matching ones,” Marinette said, grinning.

“Yessss,” Nino said, hugging Alya gleefully. “I can see our Instagram picture together already.”

“These are really amazing, Marinette,” Alya said, studying the pajama shirt after Nino had let her go.

“They are really cool. Much nicer than my humble Ladybug merch,” Adrien grinned. “But you really need to check out this masterpiece.” He unfolded the jacket.

“Oh my goodness dear!” Sabine exclaimed. “You made that?”

“She did,” Adrien affirmed, looking at her proudly. “And look at the inside!” He carefully opened the jacket so they could see the lining.

Alya gasped. “Marinette! This is incredible! And you are probably the nicest girlfriend ever, indulging your boyfriend’s hero crush like this.”

“Awww, I think it’s cute,” Marinette said. “And all the superhero themes are really fun to design with. I really enjoyed coming up with this idea. The most difficult thing to find were the little ladybug snaps.”

Alya held open the jacket and saw one of the little fasteners. “They are perfect! Seriously girl, you’ve outdone yourself. And I love the way you used your signature. It’s totally badass.”

“So, how does it fit, son?” Tom asked, having been quietly observing the scene. Marinette saw Alya and Nino look at each other in surprise at how Tom had referred to Adrien.

Adrien grinned at Tom and slipped the jacket on.

“Wow, bro, that is sharp!” Nino exclaimed.

“It really is,” Adrien agreed. “My girlfriend is so talented.” He grabbed Marinette and kissed her cheek. Alya quickly whipped out her phone and took a picture. “Send me that, please,” Adrien said.

Alya nodded and grinned. “On its way,” she promised.

A buzzer went off in the kitchen and Sabine went to take the casserole dish out of the oven. “It’ll be ready to eat in twenty five minutes or so,” she said as she rejoined the group.

“It smells amazing, Sabine. What is it?” Nino asked.

“Thank you, Nino! It’s cassoulet,” Sabine replied.

“Yum,” Alya said. “My Maman only makes that at work because it takes so long. Adrien, what did you do to get this spoiled?”

Sabine laughed. “He’s so appreciative. It’s fun to spoil him. Tom, can you help me set the table?”

“Of course!” he replied. “Who is volunteering to sit on the couch? I can squeeze four seats around the table.”

“Let the kids take the seats and we can sit on the couch, dear,” Sabine said.

Tom nodded as he got out two bottles of wine and two baguettes. He grabbed wine glasses while Sabine took out a stack of plates and silverware.

“Ok, everyone, grab a plate and take as much as you like,” Sabine instructed. “Is everyone okay with wine?” she asked. Everyone nodded enthusiastically and she laughed. “Tom, go ahead and pour six glasses of wine.”

While Tom was emptying the first bottle of wine, everyone else lined up for food. Soon everyone was sitting down and eating.

“Sabine, this is wonderful,” Adrien said. “Thank you!”

“See?” Sabine raised her eyebrows at Alya. “It’s nice to be appreciated!”

Alya laughed. “I’ll have to keep that in mind!”

“Speaking of appreciation,” Tom said. “I’d like to raise a toast to Adrien, who I’ve really enjoyed getting to know over the past few weeks. Happy Birthday, son. I hope this next year is a good one for you. You certainly deserve it! À ta santé!”

Adrien blushed as everyone raised their glasses to him. “Thanks everyone,’ he managed, choking up a bit. “I know, Nino, you’re going to tease me forever about this and I’m far too sentimental for my own good… but… I really appreciate all of you. This has been the best birthday I’ve ever had. I had gotten to the point that I just dreaded them because they were so unremarkable. And this day has been anything but that. A few years ago, I was begging my father to let me go to school so I could make friends but I never imagined I’d find people who’d become family to me. I really do appreciate all of you so much.”

“Well said, my dear,” Sabine said.

After everyone finished their dinner, Tom disappeared downstairs with Sabine and returned ten minutes later with a cream colored cake with a light orange syrup dripping over the sides. Three sparkler candles were positioned in the middle.

“I would not have had that glass of wine if I knew you were all going to try this hard to make me cry!” Adrien exclaimed. Marinette wrapped her arms around him as Tom lit the candles and everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’,

“So how many of you knew about this?” Adrien asked as Tom cut the cake.

“Pretty sure everyone but you, Sunshine,” Alya smirked.

“Nino, you even knew about this?” Adrien asked, accusingly.

“Yeah, man, sorry. Alya told me about it but she said I better not spill.”

“Yeah, yeah or she’d launch you into the sun,” Adrien grinned.

“That’s right, you know the drill,” Nino replied wryly.

Adrien shook his head and took a bite of cake. “Wow, this is passionfruit!”

“Marinette told me that is one of your favorite flavors,” Tom said.

“Did I tell you that?” Adrien asked his girlfriend. “I can’t even remember!”

“I’m not sure I even remember how I knew that,” Marinette admitted and everyone laughed.

After everyone was done with the cake, Tom and Sabine quietly cleaned up while the four teens gathered on the couch.

“I brought a new racing game,” Nino said. “Do you guys want to try it? We can have four players. I brought my controllers too.”

“Sounds great, Nino!” Adrien said enthusiastically.

“Oh yeah and before I forget… this is from Alya and I,” Nino pulled them game out of his bag and then a small gift bag. “Happy Birthday, dude.”

Adrien took the bag and laughed as he pulled out a bright green baseball hat. “Carapace, huh?”

“I felt like you could show him a little love while you escape from the paps,” Nino explained with a grin.

“That’s amazing, thanks you two!”

“Hey kids, sorry to interrupt. I’ve left the extra bottle of wine out if you want it. Sabine and I are going to get ready for bed. Enjoy your evening!” Tom said. “And Adrien, Marinette, don’t worry about helping tomorrow, all right?”

“Thanks, Papa,” Marinette replied.

After several rounds of the racing game and a few more of Ultimate Mecha Strike III, Alya got up from the couch.

“Can I make a suggestion? Can we get some blankets, open that bottle of wine and watch a movie on the couch?” she asked.

“Great idea, Alya,” Marinette said. “I’ll help you bring your stuff upstairs and we can bring down blankets from my room.”

“Can you take my presents up too?” Adrien asked Marinette. 

“Sure,” she replied, kissing his cheek.

“We’ll be back in a few boys. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do?” Alya said with a wink.

*****

Nino waited a few seconds, listening for Marinette’s trap door to shut. When he heard the door shut, he turned to Adrien, grinning slyly.

“Bought her a ring yet, bro?” He teased.

“What?” spluttered Adrien. “Are you kidding? I just turned 17, Nino!”

“So? You’re clearly smitten. Her parents have practically adopted you. You’re staying over every chance you get with their blessing. I’m not seeing an issue here!”

“There are a _lot_ of issues! Like I said, I’m 17! We’ve been together just over a month. I’m not going to put that kind of pressure on her or that level of scrutiny. And what’s more, my father could make things incredibly difficult. He could ban me from seeing her. He could take me out of school. He already assaulted me in the middle of the night because I didn’t tell him I was dating her straight away. I wouldn’t dream of proposing before I was at _least_ 18\. He can’t have any control over me when we take that step.”

“Dude… your father assaulted you? When?” Nino asked quietly.

“Late Monday night. He woke me up and held me down in my bed. I had bruises on my arms for days after. I’ve hardly slept until I came here last night,” Adrien said.

“Oh my god, Adrien. I’m so sorry. I had no idea he was that bad.” Nino said.

“It’s ok. This is really the first chance I’ve had to talk to you about it. It’s just now I have to be even more careful. Father was exceptionally cordial to Marinette and very clearly said he wouldn’t forbid the relationship. Then that night he tells me he can be one person to everyone else and a different one to me if he needed to be. Do you see why I can’t rush off making impulsive, romantic decisions? It could ruin everything!”

“I understand, Adrien. Does Marinette know about all this?” Nino asked.

“She does. Her whole family does. They have been very kind and welcoming and whenever I can be here, I am. _This_ is what I want but I have to be careful.”

*****

“So girl, before we go back down there, I couldn’t help but notice your Papa calling Adrien…” Alya trailed off.

“Son? Yeah, like I said before, they seem to have bonded a lot since Adrien started helping him in the kitchen. I can tell it makes him feel better so I’m happy my Papa sees him that way.”

“Awww, that is really sweet,” Alya said quietly. “Now I almost feel bad for asking nosy questions about your weekend.”

“ _Almost_ being the key word,” grinned Marinette.”I’ll preempt one question. I’ve made no Ladybug underwear.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think you would but I was gonna ask anyway. But you were considering showing him a little more skin. Did you?”

“I did, but I over thought it and got freaked out. He was very sweet and just wrapped us up in a blanket and we watched a movie. He probably saw me briefly but he was trying so hard not to…” Marinette sighed. “I’m not sorry I tried but it may be awhile before I do that again!”

Alya laughed. “So what triggered the overthinking spiral of doom? Did you get all your words in the wrong order again or something?”

“Ah, damn, I’d almost forgotten what caused that,” Marinette groaned. “Ok, this is the last of the gossip because it is terrible and super embarrassing. When I mentioned what I wanted to do, I was sitting on his lap on the desk chair and I completely messed up the sentence in my head and I…. pretty much… ummm said I wanted him to undress me and he was so surprised he jumped a little and I fell on the floor.”

“Oh… my...god…” Alya burst into giggles. “Poor Adrien! Poor you!”

“Yes, I’m ridiculous,” sighed Marinette. “I was so determined I was going to do what I intended but I was really struggling to get over that mortifying experience!”

Alya snorted. “Well Adrien doesn’t look like he minds too much.”

“Alya, let me ask you a question… you and Nino have been together a long time and I know you have your own code words for whatever it is you are doing. And I know Nino likes to tease Adrien about sharing a bed with me… So have you and Nino…” she trailed off and raised her eyebrows at Alya.

Alya blushed. “No, not yet. Nino talks a lot of shit to Adrien but he’s not ready for that and neither am I. I know we’ve been together a long time but we were really young when we started dating so it was just holding hands and little kisses for quite awhile!”

Marinette nodded. “I get it. I just get a little nervous because we haven’t been together that long and I want to take things as slow as possible. But sometimes when we’re together, I feel like part of me is asking myself exactly what I’m waiting for. It’s confusing. Does that make sense?

“Welcome to hormones, girl,” Alya laughed. “Do NOT listen to them, they will fuck you up! Or at least wait until you agree with what they’re telling you!”

Marinette laughed with her. “We better get back or the boys will come looking for us.”

*****

“I wonder what’s keeping the girls,” Adrien said as he and Nino scrolled through Marinette’s video library looking for something to watch.

“Probably talking about us,” Nino laughed. “We should open that bottle of wine while we wait.”

“All right,” Adrien agreed. “Do you know which glass is yours? Because I have no idea.”

“Actually, I don’t. Let’s just wash all four of them.” Nino suggested.

“Sure,” Adrien agreed, grabbing the glasses and taking them to the sink. He quickly washed each one and pulled out a towel to dry them.

“You seriously are right at home here, aren’t you dude?”

“Yep,” Adrien said. “Getting to be part of this family has been an unexpected bonus.” He looked around and found the corkscrew. He was tugging the cork out of the bottle when the girls came back with blankets. “You’re back!” he exclaimed as he poured equal measures into four wine glasses. “I couldn’t remember whose glass was whose so I washed them first.”

“Did you guys find something to watch?” Aya asked as they all went to the couch with their glasses.

“That’s a good question,” Nino said. “How do you ladies feel about ‘ _The Fifth Element_ ’?”

“I forgot we even had that,” Marinette gasped. “I love that movie! The costumes are so amazing.”

“I’m not sure I’ve seen it before but I’m game,” Alya said.

“Sounds like we have a winner,” Adrien said. “Start it up, Nino.” He put his wine glass on the little table in front of him and wrapped Marinette up with him in his blanket.

“Let me get comfortable first!” Nino laughed as he sat down next to Alya with the remote. “Thanks, Babe,” he said to Alya as she wrapped them in a blanket.

Adrien picked up his glass and sighed in contentment as he draped his free arm around Marinette. “I feel like I’m getting a preview of what it’ll be like when we’re older. Hanging out together watching movies on a Saturday evening.”

Marinette exchanged a sad look with Alya and Nino. They all knew that this could already be part of Adrien’s life if it wasn’t for his father.

“Sunshine, I could happily kick your father’s ass right about now,” Alya said. “It’s absolute bullshit that we can’t do this more often. Everytime he has another business trip, call us up and we’ll do this again, I promise.”

Adrien grinned. “Maybe I can even host one. I’d have to clear it with Gorilla though.”

“That would be epic dude. I still remember that party we threw. It was fun until it turned into a complete disaster!”

Adrien laughed. “Poor Wayhem. I wonder how he’s doing. I haven’t talked to him for awhile.”

Nino grinned. “Don’t forget your little party crasher there.”

Alya laughed. “I don’t think I was there for that adventure. Marinette, what did you do?”

“I dressed up like a biker guy to get into their all guy party,” she confessed, sheepishly.

Alya laughed. “Well, that tracks. I’m impressed that the tales of Marinette’s various misadventures haven’t scared you off, Adrien.”

“Are you kidding?” Adrien laughed, kissing Marinette on the top of the head. “I love hearing these stories. Many mysterious things have started to make sense since we got together. Now are we going to watch a movie or what?”

Nino grinned and pressed a button on the remote. “At your service my dude.”

Marinette snuggled against Adrien and sipped her wine slowly as the movie started to play. Absentmindedly, he stroked her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. When they got to the part where Leloo jumped into the taxi, Marinette whispered “She does kitty eyes almost as well as you.” 

Adrien looked down at her and grinned. “Pleaaaase hellllpp,” he murmured in her ear. Marinette giggled as he pulled her into his lap and kissed her neck. “This is amazing. Thank you for organizing it,” he whispered before turning his attention back to the movie.

Marinette sat up to place her wine glass on the table along with Adrien’s before settling back against him. Alya caught her eye and winked. Marinette winked back and pulled the blanket back over herself and Adrien. She did her best to lose herself in the movie after that, admiring the amazing costumes and Leloo’s fight scene on the cruise ship. She was periodically distracted by Adrien kissing the top of her head or stroking her arms. When the end of the movie was finally playing, he kissed her neck again. She turned to look at him and he smiled and kissed her lips.

“I’m going to go get some cheese and a cookie.” she whispered in his ear.

Adrien nodded in understanding and let her up to go to the kitchen. Marinette discreetly got two little boxes together for Plagg and Tikki. “Does anyone want hot chocolate?” she asked.

“That sounds great,” Alya said. 

Marinette looked at Nino and Adrien who both nodded. “Ok, I’m going to put some milk on to warm. I’m going to put on some pajamas and then I’ll be right back. If anyone else wants to change, you can use my room or the bathroom.”

“Tikki? Plagg? I have a snack for you,” Marinette whispered after shutting the trap door behind her.

“Thanks Marinette,” Tikki said, floating over to her. “Is Adrien having a good birthday?”

“I think so,” Marinette said. “It’s been a really nice day.”

“Thanks for doing this Pigtails,” Plagg said, floating down.

“Believe me, I’m so happy I finally can,” Marinette replied. “I told everyone they could come up here to change so you should probably make yourself scarce again.”

The Kwami nodded and took their snacks before zipping out of sight. Quickly, Marinette grabbed a powder blue button down pajama shirt and its matching pair of shorts. She changed as fast as she could and put her clothes in the hamper. She opened her trap door to leave and nearly ran into Adrien.

“Whoa, sorry!” she exclaimed.

“That’s ok, Bug. I didn’t mean to surprise you! I just came up to say Alya is stirring the milk because it was starting to warm up.” 

“Oh good. I didn’t mean to take so long.”

“It’s fine. The hot chocolate was a good diversion.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her cheek. “I was also hoping for a kiss.”

Marinette smiled and rested her hands on his shoulders. “Happy Birthday Adrien,” she said, looking up at him. He smiled back and lowered his lips to hers.

****

An hour later, everyone was ready for bed, hanging out in Marinette’s room. Alya and Nino were snuggling together on the chaise.

“Is that going to be ok for both of you?” Marinette asked.

“Yes, definitely,” Nino assured her. “It’s this or go home and sleep by myself so… I’m good.” he laughed and put his arm around Alya.

“All right… well if everyone is good, I’m going to shut off the light,” Marinette said.

“We’re good,” Alya said. 

Adrien climbed up into the loft bed. “I’m good,” he said mischievously. “But where are you going to sleep, Marinette?”

“Ha ha,” Marinette said dryly as everyone laughed. She shut off the light then carefully walked back to the ladder and climbed up.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkened room, she could see Adrien sitting up, waiting for her. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” he whispered. 

“I guess turning seventeen turned you into quite the joker.” she murmured back.

“Oh, I already was, just improving my comedic timing,” he replied quietly. Marinette shook her head and smiled before laying down on her side. Adrien threw the duvet over them both and cuddled up against her. “Best birthday ever,” he said, nuzzling her neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! I will be putting up the first chapter for my next part of the series ‘The Magic that Guides Us’ tomorrow.


End file.
